lP>bonolog^ 


HEMPL 


'J- 


D   G  HEATH  S  CQ 


OLD-ENGLISH   PHONOLOGY 


BY 


GEORGE   HEMPL,  Ph.D. 

ASSISTANT    PROFESSOR    OF    ENGLISH    IN    THE 
UNIVERSITT    OF    MICHIGAN 


-o-ci^^oo- 


BOSTON    U.  S.  A. 
D.   C.   HEATH   &   CO. 

1893 


n-- 


Copyright 
D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO. 

1892 


.    •    •  •  .  • 


«    •  •       •  • 


•  •     ♦  •  • 
•   *.  •  • 


>  ••    •    ■ 


•  •       ••     •     • 

•  .  •      •-•  •. • 


-.1 


•ca 


NOTE. 


The  foUowiug  j)ages  are  the  first  of  my  forthcoming 
Old-English  Grammar  and  Reader.  They  are  now  published 
primarily  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  my  classes. 

It  is  expected  that  the  complete  book  will  be  issued  in 
the  summer  of  1893  ;  at  which  time  due  acknowledgments 
will  be  made  to  books  and  friends. 

,  GEOKGK   IIKMPL. 

Axx  Akbok, 
Oct.,  1892. 


1584,45 


SIGNS   AND   ABBREVIATIONS. 


>  =  "become(s),"  "became,"  or  "  (is  changed)  into." 

<  =  "  (derived)  from,"  "a  later  form  of." 

*   marks  a  form  not  found  in  Mss.  but  inferred  philologically. 

/  is  a  sign  of  gradation,  §  47. 

;    is  a  sign  of  the  working  of  Verner's  Law,  §  57. 

+  =  '-plus,"  or  "  together  with  following." 

[    =  "  after, ' '  or  ' '  preceded  by , "  for  ex. ,  «' [ to  >  «  =  ■  •  io  after  w  becomes 

?(,"  or  '-under  the  influence  of  a  preceding  tp,  an  io  becomes  ?(." 
"I     =  "  before,"  or  "followed  by,"  for  ex.,  el""'-  >  (  =  '•  e  before  a  nasal, 

becomes  ?." 
"l     =  "breaks,"  or  "broken,"  §  41,  for  ex.,  /"i  >  io  =  "  i  breaks  into  jo," 

or  "breaking  changes  i  to  k>,"  and  ea  < a']  =  "the  e.a  that  arises 

by  the  breaking  of  ce." 
)'   =  "  i-mutation,"  §  4:5 ;  )"  =  "  «-nuitiition,"  §  44.     For  ex.,  o)'>  e  = 

"  the  «-mutation  of  o  is  e,"  or  "  o  nuitated  by  i  becomes  e." 

X,  ?{,  &c.  =  "  unsyllabic  i,  ?(,  &c." 
77  =  tho  back  nasal  in  'sing,'  §  5;J. 
f  =  sli  in  '  she.'' 
J  =  .s  in  '  pleasure.' 
d)    =  the  voiceless  fricatives  in  German  arf)  (back)  and  id)  (front),  §  54. 
ii    =  a  sound  like  i  in  '  machine'  or  '  i)in,'  but  nuide  with  the  lips  nearly 

clo.sed,  or  "  rounded." 


(7,  (",  &c..  §  15  N'-. 
(•,  li,  A,  &c.,  §  85. 
f ,  h  §  40  N3. 

t,  o,  ft.  nt.  p.  22,  §  :}8 


eWS.      —  early  AVcst  Saxon,  §  7. 
G«  =  Germanic,  §  6. 

IWS.       =  late  West  Saxon,  §  7. 
ME.        =  Middle  English,  §  9. 
M.  Ger.  =  Midland  German. 
M"E.       =  Modern  English,  J^  0. 
^  =:  Note- 

iv 


N.E.  =  New  England. 

OE.  =  Old  English,  §§  8,  9. 

OIIG.  =  Old  High  German,  §  6. 

Sc.  =  Scandinavian,  §  (!. 
S.  Ger.  =  South  German. 

\VG.  —  West  Germanic,  §  (!. 

WS.  =  West  Saxon,  §  7. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Laxd  and  the  People.* 

1.  ExGLAXD,  once  a  penmsula  like  Denmark,  had  been 
separated  from  tlie  mainland  long  before  the  first  tribes  of 
Indo-European  stock  came  and  conquered  the  people  they 
found  there.  These  new-comers  were  Celts,  and  had  become 
thoroughly  established  on  the  island  when  Ctesar,  having  con- 
(piered  the  Celts  of  Gaul,  invaded  Britain  with  his  Koman 
legions,  55  and  again  54  b.c.  The  Roman  conquest,  however, 
did  not  begin  until  a  century  later,  a.d.  43.  In  time  forts 
arose  in  various  parts ;  two  immense  walls  were  built  to  shut 
out  the  Picts  of  the  north ;  and  the  island  was  traversed  by 
great  military  roads,  along  which  troops  might  quickly  be  sent 
to  the  west  to  hold  the  less  civilized  natives  in  restraint,  to 
the  north  against  the  Scots  and  the  Picts,  or  to  the  south-east 
to  oppose  the  marauding  Saxons  that  devastated  that  coast. 
But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Britain  was  only  a  mili- 
tary colony.  Archaeological  and  philological  evidence  is  con- 
stantly accumulating  to  the  effect  that  during  the  four  hundred 
years  of  Eoman  rule  Roman  civilization  not  only  pervaded  the 
towns,  but  even  spread  to  the  country  ])arts  ;  in  time  Christian- 
ity gained  a  footing  on  the  island.  But  large  tracts  were  still 
covered  by  dense   forests,   and  many  rivers  were  not  easily 

*  The  learner  is  advised  to  read  the  first  chapters  of  some  good  Eng- 
lish history:  Gardiner's  Student's  History;  Green's  History;  Freeman's 
Old  English  History  or  vol.  i.  of  his  Norman  Conquest. 

1 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

approached  for  the  great  marshes  that  lined  them.  Little  is 
recorded  of  the  history  of  the  Roman  Province  of  Britain ; 
after  410  Rome  hardly  claimed  it,  and  no  longer  pretended  to 
do  for  it. 

2.  The  Saxon  pirates  were  but  tlie  forerunners  of  a  great 
German  invasion,  which  began  about  450  and  in  time  overran 
the  larger  part  of  the  island.  The  invaders  were,  for  the 
most  part,  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutes  (OE.  Enij-le,  Se'axe  or 
-an,  Tote).  Kent  and  the  country  about  Southampton  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Jutes,  the  rest  of  the  South  was  settled  by 
Saxons,  while  the  north-east  became  the  home  of  the  Angles. 
'As  it  was  among  the  Engle  of  ISTorthumberland  that  literary 
culture  first  flourished  (§  12)  and  an  Enylisc  dialect  was  the 
first  to  be  used  for  vernacular  literature,  Englisc  came  event- 
ually to  be  a  general  name  for  all  forms  of  the  vernacular  as 
opposed  to  Latin  ( which  the  English  called  Lceclen),  etc. ;  and 
when  the  West  Saxon  of  Alfred  became  in  its  turn  the  lite- 
rary or  classical  form  of  speech  (§  7),  it  too  was  called  Englisc, 
or  English.'*  Later  the  term  Angelcyn  (=  Angle  kin,  or 
English  people)  came  to  be  applied  to  Saxons  as  well  as 
Angles,  and  the  fact  that  the  Angles  occupied  the  larger  part 
of  the  country  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  this. 
According  to  ancient  usage,  the  words  Engle  and  Angelcyn 
were  also  used  where  we  should  expect  a  name  for  the  coun- 
try; but  in  time  Englaland  (M"E.  England),  that  is,  "land 
of  the  Engle,"  came  into  use.  The  natives,  on  their  part, 
called  all  the  new-comers  by  the  name  of  those  that  first 
devastated  their  coast,  —  the  Saxons.  Many  of  these  natives 
(the  English  called  them  Welsh,  tliat  is,  '"'strangers")  were 
either  slain  or  driven  to  the  west  and  the  north,  but  not  a  few 
became  the  slaves  of  the  conquerors,  and  their  young  women 
the  mothers  of  a  large  part  of  the  next  generation.  Thus, 
from  the  start,  Celtic  blood  mingled  with  Teutonic. 

*  Murray  in  Encyclopedia  Britannica. 


THE    LAND    AND    THE    PEOPLE.  o 

3.  The  new-comers  cared  little  for  Ivomaii  civilization  and 
Cliristianity,  but  brought  with  them  the  institutions,  customs, 
and  religion  of  their  forefathers.  The  bulk  of  the  free  popu- 
lation consisted  of  Ceorls  (pronounce  ke'orls  or  die' oris),  who 
in  time  sank  to  the  position  of  serfs,  and  their  betters,  the 
Eorls  (e'orZs)  and  iEthelings  {Mh'eli-qga).  The  chiefs  were 
called  Ealdormen  {d'Oldormea',  —  elders  or  magistrates)  or 
Her'etog'as  {—  leaders  of  the  army).  Their  retinue  of  fight- 
ing-men, called  Gesiths  {ye-seeths',  =  companions)  and  later 
Thegns  {thanes,  or  attendants),  was  for  the  most  part  made 
up  of  Eorls.  By  those  of  lower  rank  an  Ealdorman  or  a  king 
was  in  deference  called  Hlaford  {hlah'cord,  M°E.  lord).  The 
general  levy  of  the  villagers  for  the  defence  of  their  homes 
was  termed  the  Fierd  (fVerd).  When  various  tribes  united, 
as  for  a  military  expedition  or  for  defence  against  a  common 
foe,  they  chose  a  leader  of  the  combined  forces,  whom  they 
called  Cyning  {kWnirjg,  =  king) ;  in  time  the  kingship  acquired 
more  permanence  and  power,  and  supplanted  or  subordinated 
the  rule  of  the  Ealdormen.  When  a  king  was  to  be  elected, 
the  most  eligible  member  of  the  royal  family  was  chosen  by 
the  Wit'enagemot'  (g  —  ?/),  an  assembly  or  Great  Council  that 
to  a  certain  extent  controlled  the  action  of  the  king.  At  times 
one  king  got  a  sort  of  supremacy  over  other  kings  and  was 
called  Bretwealda  {bret'ivd'olda,  =  wielder  of  Britain),  or  over- 
lord. 

4.  The  history  of  England  during  the  Old-English  period 
(to  about  the  twelfth  century)  is  too  full  to  be  more  than 
hinted  at  here.  For  a  time  ^th'elberht,  king  of  Kent,  was 
over-lord  over  the  other  kings  south  of  the  Humber ;  he 
married  a  Christian  woman,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of 
the  Franks,  and  permitted  the  establishment  of  Cliristianity 
among  his  people.  Later,  E'adwine,  king  of  Northumberland 
and  over-lord  of  all  England  except  Kent,  did  the  same. 
Gradually  Christianity  spread  throughout  the  English  do- 
mains, and  there  was  a  united  English  church  before  a  united 


1  INTUODrcTION. 

England.  There  were  three  chief  kingdoms  :  Northumberland 
(OE.  Nord-hymhre.  cf.  Engle,  §2,  end,  =  those  dwelling  north 
of  the  Ilumber),  Mercia  {mersha,  OE.  Mi'erce  =  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Mearc  or  borderland),  and  Wessex  (OE.  West 
Seaxe,  or  the  West  Saxons) ;  the  over-lordship  shifting  to 
and  fro. 

5.  About  three  hundred  years  (a.d.  787)  after  the  first 
Teutonic  hordes  gained  a  footing  on  the  island,  others,  called 
"Danes''  by  the  English,  but  coming  from  the  Scandinavian  as 
well  as  from  the  Danish  peninsula,  began  to  make  inroads  upon 
the  north-east  coast.  In  time  they  founded  settlements,  and 
pressed  forward  until  they  were  masters  of  most  of  the  Eng- 
lish territory  north  of  the  Thames.  Wessex  (with  its  depend- 
encies, Sussex  and  Kent)  alone  held  out  against  them.  The 
West-Saxon  resistance  was  maintained  by  a  line  of  valiant 
kings,  the  greatest  of  whom  Avas  iElfred  (reigned  871-901), 
ecpially  noted  as  warrior,  statesman,  and  scholar.  He  consoli- 
dated his  kingdom,  reorganized  the  Fierd  (§  3),  built  a  navy, 
had  the  laws  revised,  established  schools,  encouraged  native 
scholars  and  attracted  foreign  ones,  and,  though  his  own  knowl- 
edge of  Latin  was  defective,  translated  with  the  aid  of  others 
various  Latin  books  that  he  thought  would  be  of  use  to  his 
people  (§  13).  Under  his  son  and  grandsons  all  England 
south  of  the  Humber  gradually  became  subject  to  the  West- 
Saxon  king;  and  the  Scandinavian  element  was  pretty  well 
absorbed  by  the  English.  But  some  two  hundred  years  after 
the  first  "Danes"  had  come  to  England,  new  swarmS  crossed 
over  (984)  from  Norway  and  Denmark  and  conquered  the 
island,  which  was  now  for  some  time  ruled  by  Danish  kings. 
In  the  next  century  England  was  again  conquered  (1066)  by 
men  of  Teutonic  blood,  —  the  Normans  (or  iSTorthmen),  Avho 
had  been  settled  now  more  than  a  hand  red  years  in  France, 
where  they  had  adopted  the  French  language  and  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 


LANGUAGE   AND    LiTEKATUKE. 


Language  and  Literature.* 

6.  The  Teutonic  or  Germanic  languages  are;  (1)  Gothic, 
(2)  Scandinavian  (including  Norwegian  and  Icelandic,  Swed- 
ish and  Danish),  (3)  West  Germanic.  The  WGr.  languages 
are  (1)  Loio  German  (the  languages  native  to  the  northern 
lowlands :  ^^(attbcutjcf),  Dutch,  Frisian,  English),  (2)  Ilitjh 
German  (the  speech  of  the  middle  and  southern  highlands, 
from  which  has  developed  the  literary  language  now  spoken  in 
all  parts  of  the  country).  The  English  language  is  thus  a 
i^eculiarly  developed  Low-German  dialect,  nearest  akin  to 
Frisian,  and  more  like  Dutch  and  '»|](attbcut[d)  than  like 
High  German.! 

7.  We  have  seen  (§2)  that  there  were  various  LG.  tribes 
that  settled  in  Britain ;  and  as  each  tribe  had  come  to  speak 
somewhat  differently  from  the  others,  we  have  to  deal  with 
various  Old  ExoLisir  Dialects,  four  of  which  are  important: 
Kentish,  West-Saxon.  Mercian,  and  Northumbrian.  The  last 
two  are  forms  of  Anglian  speech,  WS.  Avas  the  most  prominent 
Saxon  dialect,  and  Kentish  represents  the  speech  of  the  Jutes. 
Of  these,  West  Saxon  has  the  greatest  importance ;  for  under 
the  political  supremacy  of  Wessex  (§5)  and  the  enlightened 
policy  of  ^Elfred,  it  became  the  literary  and  official  language, 
and  in  it  are  written  most  of  the  OE.  literary  monuments  that 
have  been  preserved  to  our  day  (§  13).  It  is  therefore  best  to 
begin  the  study  of  OE.  with  early  AVest  Saxon  (eWS.)  and 

*  The  learner  is  advised  to  read  Dr.  Jlurray's  article  on  the  English 
Language  in  Encydopa'dia  Britannica,  9th  edition,  or  tliat  in  Webster's 
International  Dictionary  ;  and  the  opening  chapters  of  a  good  Englisli 
literature,  for  example,  Ten  Brink's.  For  lists  of  texts,  editions,  etc.,  cf. 
the  appendix  to  Cook's  translation  of  Sievers'  OE.  grammar,  or  AViilker's 
Geschichte  der  angls.  Litteratar. 

t  Students  of  Old  English  who  understand  Latin  or  German  will  be 
able  to  make  good  use  of  this  knowledge  if  they  familiarize  themselves 
with  the  general  scheme  of  "  Grimm's  Law." 


(j  INTKODUCTrON. 

to  regard  this  as  the  standard  with   which  to  compare  other 
dialects. 

8.  We  have  seen  (§  1')  that  all  the  settlers  called  their  lan- 
guage Englisc,  or  English,  after  the  Encjle,  or  Angles.  They 
occasionally  called  themselves  Angelseaxan,  or  Anglo-Saxons 
(which  means  English  Saxons  as  distinguished  from  the  con- 
tinental Saxons,  whom  they  called  Eahheaxan,  or  Old  Saxons, 
as  we  in  America  speak  of  ''Old  England";  later  the  word 
was  misunderstood  as  meaning  a  combination  of  Angles  and 
Saxons) ;  but  they  never  called  their  language  Anglo-Saxon. 
This  was  first  done  by  scholars  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  to  whom  Old  English  seemed  more  a  distinct 
language  than  an  older  stage  of  their  0A\'n.  We  are,  therefore, 
justified  in  joining  those  wjio  a  score  of  years  ago  discarded 
the  term  Anglo-Saxon  as  applied  to  language,  and  began  to 
call  the  oldest  known  form  of  our  speech  "Old  English"*  or 
"  First  English."  '  The  oldest  dated  Ms.  containing  OE.  words 
is  a  charter  of  679,  but  some  of  the  English  inscriptions  that 
were  made  in  Kunic  letters  (§  14)  are  probably  older'  (Sweet, 
H.E.S.  §  345). 

9.  The  chief  periods  of  English  arc  called  Old.  Middle,  and 
Modern.  The  change  from  one  to  the  other  was,  of  course, 
gradual :  the  transition  from  OE.  to  ME.  was  in  the  twelfth 
century  ;  that  from  ME.  to  M"E.,  in  the  fifteenth.  S^veet  has 
well  defined  OE.  as  the  period  of  fui.l  endings  {mona,  sunne, 
sunu,  hringas)  ;  INTE.  as  the  period  of  levelled  endings,  weak 
vowels  being  reduced  to  a  uniform  e  like  German  final  =e 
{mone,  sunne,  fnine,  ringes)  ;  M"E.  as  the  period  of  lost 
endings  (moon,  sun,  son,  rings). 

10.  But  it  was  not  always  the  same  dialect  that  was  the 
literary  language.  We  have  seen  that  literature  first  flour- 
ished among  the  Angles  (§  2),  where  it  was  brought  to  an 

*"01d  English"  is  still  used  by  some  to  designate  Middle  English 
or  early  Modern  English  ;  so  in  Webster's  and  Stormonth's  diction- 
aries. 


LANGUA(iK    AND    LlTEKATUKi:.  7 

untimely  end  by  the  Danish  inroads,*  that  later  WS.  became 
the  literary  and  official  language  (§7),  only  to  be  crowded  into 
obscurity  Avhen  the  Normans  brought  in  Frencli  (§  5,  end). 
When  English  again  got  the  upper  hand,  it  was  the  dialect  of 
London  that  became  the  standard.  This  was  originally  a 
Saxon  Dialect,  early  affected  by  the  neighboring  Kentish  and 
Mercian.  At  all  times,  but  particularly  after  the  city  had  been 
depopulated  by  the  great  plagues,  from  various  parts  of  the 
island  people  thronged  to  the  capital ;  as  the  larger  part  of 
the  island  was  Anglian,  the  dialect  of  the  metropolis  gradually 
assumed  a  more  Anglian,  or  Mercian  (§7),  character.  It  Avas 
the  London  dialect  in  which  Chaucer  wrote,  and  from  which 
the  modern  standard  speech  is  descended. 

11.  English  has  been  mucli  and  often  subjected  to  external 
influences. 

a)  Even  before  the  emigration  from  the  continent,  Latin 
Avords  were  learned  from  the  Koman  traders  that  visited  the 
German  tribes,  from  the  Germans  that  served  in  the  armies  of 
the  Empire,  and  in  other  ways.  Thus  Lat.  vinum  >  OE.  win 
M"E.  wine,  Ger.  ZQdn,  similarly  with  butter,  cheese,  etc. ;  (via) 
strata  >  OE.  strait  M"E.  street,  (Stra[3C,  so  with  mile,  j^ouncl, 
inch,  etc.  ;  and  even  the  Christian  f-ngel,  ©ncjcl,  and  cleofol 
M"E.  devil,  S^cufel.  Lat.  buxum,  popular  Lat.  bucso,  "  writing- 
tablet  of  box-wood"  (used  particularly  for  documents),  was 
associated  by  the  Germans  with  G*"  boco-,  buc{j)on-  "beech- 
tree,"  and  >  G-^  boc-s  (OE.  OS.  boc,  OHG.  buoh)  "  writing- 
tablet,  charter,  book." 

b)  On  the  island  the  conquerors  heard  both  Latin  and  Celtic, 
the  former  particularly  in  the  towns,t  and  thus  added  to  their 
vocabulary  (1)  many  such  words  as  munt  "mount"  <  Lat. 
montem,  lyihten  "  part  of  a  loom  "  <  Lat.  pecten,  bepoican  '•  be- 

*  Even  the  literary  products  of  the  period  would  have  been  lost  had 
they  not  come  down  to  us  in  copies  made  by  Saxon  scribes. 

t  Cf.  Pogatscher:  "  Zur  Lautlehre  der  gr.,  lat.  und  rom.  Lehnworte 
im  AE."  especially  pp.  1-15. 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

guile,  cheat "  <  Lat.  pdco  "  soothe,  pacify  "  ;  cf .  also  the  proper 
names  Cheder,  Wor-cester,  Lan-caster,  etc.,  <  UE.  ceaster  "  forti- 
fied town"  <  Lat.  castra  ;  and  (2)  such  Celtic  words  as  cradle, 
mattock,  rock,  curse,  and  many  proper  names:  for  example, 
those,  like  London,  in  don  <  Celtic  dun,  for  which  the  real 
Encflish  word  is  tun  "town."  Some  of  these  words  the  Celts 
themselves  had  learned  from  their  Roman  conquerors ;  thus, 
"ass"<OE.  assa  <  Celtic  assan  <  Lat.  asinus,  which  had 
long  before  passed  directly  into  G*^  as  asilus,  OE.  ^sol,  Ger. 

G[e(. 

c)  With  the  introduction  of  Christianity  many  Latin  and 
Greek  ecclesiastical  terms  became  popular  (thus,  jireost 
"priest,"  nunne  "nun,"  seal  "school,"  non  "noon,"  etc.); 
and,  all  along,  our  language  has  drawn  learned  and  technical 
terms  from  Latin  and  Greek. 

d)  Much  greater  was  the  influence  of  the  large  Scandinavian 
element  (§  o),  and  to  this  source  we  owe  many  of  our  most 
familiar  words.  Thus,  even  in  OE.  we  find  tacan  "take" 
<  Sc.  taka  (for  which  the  real  English  word  was  niman 
nebmcn),  twang  "wrong,"  lagu  "law,"  and  many  others. 
But  most  of  the  Sc.  words  do  not  appear  till  later,  in  the 
ME.  period,  when  the  Sc.  population  and  speech  had  been 
absorbed  by  the  English.  Words  beginning  with  the  sound 
.s-A;  are  foreign  words,  and  most  of  them  are  of  Sc.  origin,  the 
native  E.  word  having  sJi-  <  OE.  sc-,  §  85,  3.  Thus  skin,  skill, 
sky,  scabby  (the  real  E.  form  being  shabby),  skirt  (for  E.  shirt, 
both  words,  like  Ger.  ©c^urj  and  our  short,  being  from  Late 
Lat.  ex-curtiis). 

e)  Still  greater  was  the  influence  of  Norman  French  (§5, 
end)  upon  English ;  but  all  this  happened  after  the  OE. 
period. 

12.  We  have  seen  (§  2)  that  Literature  was  first  culti- 
vated among  the  Angles  of  the  North.  This  was  toward  the 
close  of  the  seventh  century,  when  Christianity  had  become 
established  in  the  country  (  §  4),  and  the  new  faith  was  cher- 


LANGUAGE   AND   LITERATURE.  9 

ished  with  a  rare  ardor  and  devotion.  We  know  that,  k^ng 
before,  all  Teutonic  peoples  had  been  fond  of  music  and  song, 
and  that  poems,  celebrating  in  sturdy  rhythm  the  deeds  of 
chieftain  or  god  and  the  glory  of  war,  were  composed  and 
recited  by  travelling  minstrels  in  the  hall  of  the  chief,  where 
he  and  his  Geslths  sat  drinking  mead.  Such  a  poem  was  the 
great  epic  Beowulf  {bay'owulf).  But  this,  like  most  of  the  little 
of  heathen  literature  that  escaped  the  mistaken  zeal  of  early 
Christianity,  bears  traces  of  Christian  conception  and  faith. 
Directly  inspired  by  the  religion  of  Jew  and  (-hristian  was 
the  paraphrase  of  the  Bible  composed  by  Caedmon  (kad'mon) 
under  the  patronage  of  Hilda,  Abbess  of  AVhitby.  In  this  as 
well  as  in  the  noble  Christian  poems  of  Cynewulf  (kxx'newulf), 
but  less  in  the  Judith,  there  reappears  the  old  English  delight 
in  the  clash  of  arms  and  in  the  struggle  with  the  sea.  Lyric 
poetry  prospered  less  than  epic ;  but  there  have  been  a  few 
lyrics  (Dear's  Complaint,  The  Complaint  of  the  Woman,  The 
Seafarer,  The  Wanderer)  preserved  to  us,  which  generally  voice 
the  complaint  of  one  who  has  suffered,  or  is  lonely.  Even  in 
Christian  days  war-songs  were  composed  that  had  much  of  the 
old  poetic  fire.  Two  that  celebrate  events  of  the  tenth  century 
deserve  special  mention,  The  Battle  of  Maldon  and  Tlie  Battle 
of  Bru7inanburh. 

13.  Prose,  too,  may  be  said  to  have  begun  in  the  days  of 
Northumbrian  culture,  for  it  was  at  Jarrow  that  the  learned 
Beda  (modern  Bede),  whose  Latin  writings  were  the  well  of 
scientific  and  historical  knowledge  for  generations  after,  trans- 
lated a  part  of  the  Bible  into  English.  But  it  was  particularly 
during  the  days  of  the  WS.  renaissance  (§§  5,  7)  that  English 
prose  (eWS.,  §  7)  was  much  cultivated.  AVe  have  seen  that 
King  .Alfred  not  only  encouraged  schools  and  scholarship,  but 
himself  translated  various  Latin  books  :  Boe'thius'  Consolation 
of  Philosophy,  Orosius'  History  of  the  World,  Gregory's  Pasto- 
ral Care,  etc.  In  liis  day,  too,  the  laws  were  revised,  and  the 
English  or  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  became  more  than  a  mere  list 


1 0  INTRODUCTION. 

of  events.  Later  on  tliere  was  another  revival  of  English 
])i-ose  (late  WS.).  This  time  it  is  the  Homilies  of  the  abbot 
iElfric  (written  about  the  year  1000)  and  of  Archbishop 
Wulfstan  that  attract  most  attention.  ^Ifric  also  translated 
parts  of  the  Bible,  and  wrote  a  Latin  grammar  in  English. 
He,  as  well  as  the  WS.  monk  Byrhtferth,  who  taught  in  a 
school  at  Ramsey  on  the  Isle  of  Man,  revived  in  English  the 
learning  of  Eeda. 


I.   PH02\^0L0GY. 


-»o>*Co«- 


CHAPTER     I. 


The  Alphabet. 


14.  The  German  settlers  brought  with  them  an  alphabet 
that  was  in  use  among  their  kinsmen  the  Goths  and  Scandi- 
navians as  well  as  among  themselves.  This  was  the  Runic 
Futhark,  a  G*"  moditication  of  the  Latin  alphabet,  made  about 
200  A.D.     The  modification  consisted  principall}-  in  the  use  of 


r 

F  feoh 

H 

H  hcegel 

t 

T  /rr 

Y  A  (7c 

h 

U  »/• 

i 

N  nJecl 

^ 

B  heorc 

P  Oo.s 

> 

P    ))0/Vl 

1 

1   is 

n 

E  eo/i 

f^  Y  ^r 

t^ 

■  (A  *ans) 

4> 

(J  gear) 

M 

M  rnqn 

^  EO  eor 

1^ 

R  rfal 

V 

?  foh 

r 

L  ^a^w 

^  EA  ear 

K 

C  cen 

C 

P  peord 

§ 

N^T^  wi^ 

X  C  cweord 

X 

G  yiefu 

Y 

-(Z)X? 
eolhsecg 

5^ 

(0  odil) 
■,CE  EeSTeZ 

M  G  ^c7r 

^ 

w  1  '"^" 
[wen 

M 

S  s/f/eZ 

ixl 

D  da;g 

^sj  ST  sfa» 

Obsolete  values  etc.  are  in  (  ). 


n 


12  IMIOXOLOOY. 

perpendicular  or  oblique  lines  for  horizontal  ones,  and  of  angles 
for  curves,  and  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  runes  were,  proba- 
bly, lirst  cut  on  twigs,  which  were  sometimes  used  for  purposes 
of  divination.  There  were  24  G"=  runes,  but  the  changes  in 
OE.  utterance  caused  some  changes  in  the  alphabet  and  the 
addition  of  several  new  characters.  As  a  often  >  ae  (§  25,  i)  or 
0  (§  25, 4),  and  as  o  was  mutated  (§43)  to  oe  later  e,  and  u  to  y, 
new  runes  were  made  for  a  and  o  by  modifying  the  old  a-rune, 
and  one  for  y  by  changing  that  for  u.  As  a  distinction  arose 
between  c  g  and  eg  (§§55,  56),  new  runes  were  made  for  the 
latter.  When  j  and  g  got  the  same  value  (§§5Gb,  G4),  the 
rune  of  the  former  was  dropped. 

XoTE.  —  After  tlie  runes  had  gone  out  of  general  use,  they  were  still  occa- 
sionally employed  in  inscriptions,  rebuses,  &c.,  or  for  their  name  words. 

15.  With  the  introduction  of  Christianity  (§  4)  and  Latin 
learning,  the  Latin  Alphabet  was  introduced  afresh,  and  that 
in  the  form  it  had  assumed  in  Ireland,  for  the  Scots  of  Ireland 
had  more  or  less  to  do  with  the  spreading  of  Christianity 
among  the  English,  in  England  the  alphabet  went  its  own 
way.  For  the  u  or  uu  and  the  th  at  first  employed,  the  runes 
P  and  p  came  into  use,  and  for  p  a  crossed  d,  that  is  D  tf,  was 
often  substituted,  especially  medially  and  finally. 

Note  1. — The  nsual  mediiBval  contractions  are  not  wanting  in  OE.  MSS. 
Thus  uo  or  -^  over  a  vowel  =  in  (but  'Soii  hwoii  =  d'onne  hwonne), 

and  over  a  cons,  it  =  er,  less  often  or.  "p  (a  crossed  }>)  is  the  usual  way  of 
writing  J>set ;  ond,  or  and,  is  rare,  being  written  7  (like  &',  a  contraction 
of  Lat.  et) ;  and  \  (a  crossed  I  =  Lat.  vel)  is  often  used  instead  of  o'S'Sq. 

Note  2.  —  Over  long  vowels  (especially  if  the  word  is  very  short)  a 
mark  like  "  is  often  found  in  MSS. ;  much  less  frequently  is  ^  found  over 
short  vowels.  In  this  book  all  long  vowels  are  marked  with  a  macron 
(a  &c.),  while  short  ones  ai'c  left  unmarked. 

Note  3.  —  In  the  earlier  editions  of  OE.  texts,  types  were  employed 
that  imitated  the  letters  of  the  MSS.  (so  8  E  G  S  F  5  P  T  ^  = 
S  C  E  d  f  g  r  s  t),  cf.  March's  Anglo-Saxon  Grammar  ;  but  now  ordinary 
letters  are  used,  only  J>  or  U,  and  sometimes  5  =  g,  being  retained.  For 
paw  (less  often  v)  is  used. 

Note  4.  —  The  punctuation  of  the  MSS.  is  very  imperfect ;  that  in 
printed  texts  is  supplied  by  the  editors. 


CHAPTER    TI. 

Speech  Sounds  and  Xames. 

16.  1)  The  vibration  of  the  vocal  chords  produces  a  sound 
that  is  technically  called  Voice.  The  vowels  are  all  "  voiced  "  ; 
consonants  may  be  (for  ex.  b,  I,  ic,  &.o.),  or  they  may  be  "voice- 
less "  (for  ex.  p,  Ji,  &c.). 

2)  In  a  Vowel,  the  ••  voice "'  is  the  chief  thing,  and  the 
modification  of  the  sound  (by  the  var^-iug  shape  of  the  vocal 
l)assage  in  the  various  vowels)  is  a  subordinate  matter  ;  in  a 
Consonant,  voice  is  secondary  and  may  be  entirely  wanting, 
while  the  local  sound  (as  that  at  the  teeth  in  the  case  of  s,  at 
the  lips  in  the  case  of  p  or  b)  is  the  main  thing.  But  some 
cons'  approach  very  nearly  to  vowels,  for  ex.  the  "  semi- vowels  " 
w  and  j  (=  Eng.  y)  are  really  only  unsyllabic  (ef.  3)  u  and 
i  (=  3PE.  00  and  ee).  So  too  the  '"sonorous  consonants" 
(cf.  3)  are  "  vowel-like."  The  transition  sound  produced  in 
passing  from  one  sound  to  another,  is  called  a  Glide  (§§  oo,  56), 
but  glides  are  not  generally  noticed. 

3)  The  more  sonorous  a  sound,  the  more  likely  it  is  to  become 
syllabic  ;  thus  in  a  diphthong,  the  more  sonorous  vl.  is  sylla- 
bic, the  other  not.  YP  are  more  sonorous  than  cons^  Of  the 
latter,  I  m  n  r  are  pre-eminently  "  Sonorous  Consonants " 
(§  20,  l),  and  hence  often  syllabic  :  nsgl  nail,  hraefn  raven. 

17.  1)  If  the  tongue  is  pressed  forward  during  the  forma- 
tion of  a  vowel,  it  is  called  a  Front  Vowel  (OE.  se,  e,  i,  &:c.) ; 
if  drawn  back,  a  Back  Vowel  (< JE.  a.  o.  o.  u). 

2)  A  vowel  is  said  to  be  Low,  Mid,  ur  High,  according  as  the 
tongue  is  lowered  a  good  deal,  but  moderateh*,  or  very  little. 

3)  If  the  lips  are  brought  close  together  while  a  vl.  is 
being  sounded,  it  is  called  a  Rounded  Vowel.     OE.  o  and  ce 

13 


14  PHONOLOGY. 

(=  Ger.  o)  were  alike  in  that  both  were  rounded,  while  e  Avas 
not ;  but  oe  and  e  were  alike  in  being  front  vl'. 

4)  If  a  vl.  is  quickly  sounded,  it  is  called  "  short '' ;  if  it  is 
prolonged,  it  is  called  "  long."     Cf.  §  19,  2. 

18  back      front  back     front 

'    Simple  f^"Sh       -        i              Rounded  H^'?!^        "        ^ 
,,     ^,   ■(  inid         a         e  -.r„, .     -{mid         o        oe 

v°^^^^niow    -   *      ^°^^^^  [low    -  - 

19.  I)  A  syllable  that  ends  in  a  vowel  is  called  an  Open 
Syllable ;  one  that  ends  in  a  cons.,  a  Closed  Syllable.  A  single 
eons,  belongs  to  the  following  syllable.  Open  syllables :  pft,  fe, 
slce-ye,  beo-re ;  closed  syllables  :  Nod,  glced,  brin-gan,  lib-ban. 

2)  A  syllable  is  long  if  it  contains  a  long  vowel  or  diph- 
thong, or  if  its  vowel  is  followed  by  more  than  one  cons. 

Thus  the  first  SAdlable  is  long  in  :  blod,  crieft,  6u,  sliipan, 
ceosan  ;  and  short  in  :  ])e,  glsed,  hwatu,  beore.  A  long  syllable 
must  not  be  confounded  with  a  long  vowel  (§  17,4). 

3)  A  syllable  that  is  not  strongly  stressed  is  called  a  Weak 
Syllable  ;  its  vowel  is  often  different  from  that  in  the  corre- 
spoudiug  Strong  Syllable.  Strong  M°E.  'my'  is  sounded  7nai, 
while  weak  '  my '  is  md  or  7m.  Cf.  §§  48-50,  25,  3,  30  N,  47,  93, 
95.  2. 

20.  1)  A  cons,  produced  by  stopping  and  then  exploding  the 
breath,  is  called  a  Shut  Consonant  m-  a  Stop  (also  a  "Mute"), 
so  p,  t,  d.  A  cons,  produced  by  allowing  the  breath  to  escape 
through  an  0})euing,  is  called  an  Open  Consonant :  if  the  open- 
ing is  very  narrow  so  that  there  is  much  friction  of  the  breath 
against  the  walls  of  the  passage,  the  cons,  is  called  a  Fricative 
(or  a  "  Spirant"),  thus  OE.  s,  f,  h  ;  if  the  opening  is  not  so 
narrow  as  to  cause  marked  friction,  the  cons,  is  called  a 
Sonorous  Consonant  (§  10,3)  or  a  Semi-Vowel  (§  16,2). 

2)  Cons'  made  (1)  with  the  lips  are  called  Lip  Consonants 
(also  ''Labials  "),  so  6,  r.i,  &c. ;  (2)  by  the  front  of  the  tongue, 
Front  Consonants  (namely,  Point  Con',  or  "Dentals,"  and  Top 
Con',  or  '-Palatids"),  so  t.  .■?,  n  and  c,  g,  &c.;  (3)  by  the  back  of 
the  tongue,  Back  Consonants  (also  "Gutturals"),  c,  h,  &c.,  §  85. 


CHAPTER    III. 

The  "WS.  Yowkls,  Thkir  Proxuxciatiox  and  Source. 

1.     SiMPM-:  V«iwi;i,s. 

21. 

a  is  sounded  as  in  M"E.  artistic :  dagas  ''days."     [<  G-:  a  §  25,2] 
a  as  in  art :  stan  "  stone."     [<  G-^  ai  §  ^5,  i ;  WG.  al«- *^=-  §  30, 2, 3] 
ae  '•'   "   mankind  :  daeg  '•  day."     [<  G-=  a  §  25,  i] 

£6  ••  "  man  ' :  pffir  "  there."  [<WG.  a  §  30,  i;  a)'  §  43,  i;  segY-  "  §  88] 
e.e  •'•'  ?ne»:  stefn,  men.  [e<G'^  e  §  26,  i;  ^<a)i§43,  i,  and  o)'§43,2] 
e  ••  •'  theij-:  ges.  [<G<=e§31;weakG«;S§30,iX;o)i§43,2;eg]'i- »  §88] 
i  '■  "  in  :  bite  "  bite."  [<  G<=  i  §  27,  l;  G-^  e]""^-  §  2G,  2  ;  cf.  also  §  22  N*] 
1  ••  "  macZime:  min.  [<G<=i §32,1;  i+nas.l«^«§72;  igl<i'° §88;  cf. also 22 N*] 
0  ••  "  X.E.  stone  or  Ger.  (sjott :  god.  [<  G^'  o  §  28,  i;  &<=  u  §  29,2] 
0   ••    '•'    on:  nion-man."     [<G«a§25,4] 

0    ••    '•'    stone'*:  god.     [<  G<^  o  §33;  G-^  *1"=^^- §30,4  ;  «?  +  nas.l^^^<=- §72.^  N^] 
U    ■■    "    full :   wulf.      [<  G*^^  u  §  29,  l;  G'=  o]"''^-  «^<=-  §  28, 2, 3  ;  "[io  §  39,  l] 
u  •■    "    rule  :  liiis  "  house."      [<  G^  a  §  34  ;  u  +  nas.]^-^'^-  §  72] 
y  ••   '•   Ger.  gjMer':  wyllen"  woolen."   [<u)i§43,3;  cf.  also  §22X^] 
y  •■   "      "     grun  * :  bryd  '•'  bride."    [<  u)'  §  43, 3 ;  yn]^ s^-  §  72  ;  yg] J-  " 
§  88  ;  cf.  also  §  22  N-*] 

Force  cf.  §43,2,  ft.  nt.  2. 


1  When  prolonged,  as  is  usual  in  America. 

2  M°E.  ey  in  they,  like  "long  a"  in  date  &c.,  is  often  a  diphthong  ending 
in  I,  while  OE.  e  is  the  same  vowel  from  beginning  to  end. 

3  In  strictness,  not  the  same ;  for  M^E.  "  long  o  "  is  often  a  diphthong 
ending  in  11,  while  OE.  0  is  a  pure  vowel. 

*  Ger.  griin  and  2)fii(Icr  are  like  E.  green  and  miller,  lait  the  lips  are  nearly 
closed  —  or  "rounded"  —  during  the  formation  of  the  vowel. 

15 


16  PHONOLOGY. 

2.   Diphthongs. 

22.  NoTio  1 .  —  In  the  OE.  diphthong  the  first  element  (whether  long  or 
short)  is  syllabic  (§  1(3,  3),  or  has  the  stress  ;  but  in  some  cases  the  stress 
shifted  later  to  the  second  element.    For  geara  cf.  §  40  N^. 

Note  2.  —  ea  and  eo  are  from  older  au  and  eu  and  their  second  element 
(whetlier  written  a  or  o)  was  an  obscure  unaccented  vowel,  a  reduction 
of  u.  The  (I  of  an  became  m  (cf.  §  25, 1(2)),  and  ea  would  better  be  written 
ft'«,  as  it  sometimes  was  ;  but  the  e  of  eo  is  a  true  e. 

ea  =  Cf'  +  a':   lieaid.       [<a?]  §41;  «)"  §44;  P^'-ffC  §40] 
ea  =  («'  +  a^ :   lieafocl.     [<  G"  au  §  36  ;  «  +  o  or  a  §  45  ;  v^^oi  §  40] 
eo  =  e'  +o:  eorSe.     [<e"iandi]§41;  f)"'«andO"'°§44;  P^'foor??  §40] 
eo  =  (''  +0  :  ceosau.  [<  0*=  eu  §  37;  P'l'-  fo  §  40  ;  e  or  /+  back  vl.  §  45] 
ie  =  /'   +e  :  ieldra.    [<  ea)i  or  eo)'  §  43, 4, 5  ;  eo]i"'i-  §  40,  2) ;  /)"'  o  §  44-j 
16:=?'   +e  :  lileran.  [<  ea)'  or  eo)'  §  43, 4, 5] 

Note  3.  — eo  and  io  sometimes  had  different  origins,  but  even  in  eWS. 
they  were  confounded,  and  eo  sui^planted  io. 

Note  4.  —  ie  and  le  were  often  written  z,  later  ij :  from  which  Lloyd 
infers  that  ie  assumed  a  sound  intermediate  to  i  and  e ;  while  y,  on  becom- 
ing unrounded  (§17,  3),  was  reduced  to  the  same  sound. 

For  weak  vowels  cf.  §§  48-50. 

1  ce'ff  with  prefixed  y  may  be  heard  in  the  colloquial  y(eah  =  "  yes,"  and 
ie'a  in  the  same  word  when  drawled. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

I.     The  G*^  axd  the  WG.  Vowel  System. 

23.  Primitive  Germanic  had  the  followinc::  — 
Short  vowels :     a  e  i  o  u 
Long  vowels :      a             £e  &  e      I             0  u 
Diphthongs :       ai 

au  eu 

Note  1.  —  Some  of  the  fswere  oiice  e's  ;  for  Indo-Eui-opean  e>G=  i:  — 

1)  before  iias.  +  cons.  (cf.  Lat.  offendimentum  with  OE.  bindan) ; 

2)  when  i  or  j  stood  in  the  next  syllable  (so  inf.  helpan  but  3  s.  ind. 
hilpc}  «  orig.  hiljntS)  §43  N-.     (Perhaps  this  happened  in  WG.  times.) 

So,  too,  ei  >  u  >  I  as  in  Latin  (Gr.  5dKvv/xL,  Lat.  dlco,  G<:  fihan,  OE. 
teon,  §46,1(3)). 

Note  2.  —  Some  o's  were  once  it's ;  for  older  n  >  o  if  the  next  .sib. 
had  a  (or  o,  N^),  miless  this  was  prevented  by  intervening  nas. +  cons.. 
or  I,  j  (by  which  the  ii  w^as  later  mutated  to  ?/  §  43, 3).  Thus  we  have  0= 
giholpan  (OE.  geholpen)  but  gibundan  (OE.  gebunden)  and  huggian 
(OE.  hydgan). 

Note  3.  — IE.  oXi"  a  (Lat.  octo,  Goth,  ahtau,  OE.  eahta,  §41,  eiyht), 
but  the  unstressed  o  of  endings  remained  o  longer,  in  certain  positions 
probably  into  primitive  OE.  times,  §49,  i. 

24.  The  WG.  system  differed  from  the  G""  onlj-  in  having  a 
for  older  ce  §  30,  i. 

II.    What  the  G^  Vo^^^!:LS  became  ix  WS.     §§  25-50. 

A.     Chiefly  of  Stem   Vowels.     §§25-47. 

1.     Gekeral  Changes.     §§  25-37. 

a)  Short  Voioels.    §§  25-29. 

25.  1)  a  >  ae  (1)  in  closed  (§  19,  i)  sib' :  dag  clay. ' 

ce"|  >  ea  §  41,  and  ea)'  >  ie  §  43,  4. 
cegrl^'"  >  ^  §88.  17 


18 


PHONOLOGY. 


26.    1 

2 

3 
4 


27. 


28. 


(2)  sometimes  in  open  sib'  if  next  sib.  has  e :  dge-ges 

daifs ;  and  in  ea  <  au  §  22  N^. 

(3)  if  next  sib.  had  i  ovj,  but  oe)'>e  §  43,  i.  Cf.  2)  end. 

2)  a  remains  a  in  open  sib'  if  next  sib.  has  a,  o,  or  u 

(or  a  vl,  derived  from  one  of  these) :  da-gas,  da- 
gum,  days;  macian  (f  <  dj)  make. 
aY>  ea  §  44. 

3)  a  in  weak  sib'  (§  19,  3) :  — 

(1)  remains  a:  no,  hut,    lierepa^  | ,    .        v. 

(2)  >  0  :  of  of  Ger.  ab,  herepoti  i 

So  \one  &c.,  and  weak  on  but  strong  qn  (stressed 
adv.)  ;  weak  ot  was  displaced  by  strong  o&t. 
al""-  >  9  §  38, 1  (1),  o)'  >  ^  §  43, 1 ;  o  +  nas.]'  «"=■  >  o 

§72,  o)'>5§43,2]. 
a  +  0  or  w  >  ea  §  45. 
For  I'^'fa,  or  rather  ce,  cf.  §  40. 
e  often  remains  e :  beran  hear. . 
e]'»''>i  §38,2). 
e  I  >  eo  §  41,  eoy  >  ie  §  43, 5  )  ..^^^  >  ^  §  39, 2. 


e)">eo§44  i 

egf'''>e  §88. 

e  +  back  vl.  >  eo  §  45. 

For '"''■fe  cf.  §40. 

i  often  remains  i:  witan  knoic. 

i  I  >  io  §  41,  ioY  >  ie  §  43, 5  (      .^      ^^  J 

i)">io§44  ^    1      --     J^      J 

m]"  «:c.  (§  72)  and  t^]"-"  (§  88)  >  i. 

i  +  back  vl.  >  lo  or  eo  §  45. 

/  4-  e  >  Fe  §  45. 

0  generally  remains  o :  god  god,  folc,  word. 

0,  espec.  next  labials,  often  >  u :  wulf,  lufu. 

ol"">u  §38,3,  uy>y  §43,3. 

o)'>e  §43,2. 


Note.  —  When  (so  espec.  in  foreign  words)  o  was  followed  by  ;,  and 
analogy  did  not  prevent  (§  43,  2,  ft.  nt.  o  end),  o>u  and  ?<)'  >  y :  Scottas 
Scyttisc,  box  byxen.    Cf.  Pogatscher  §§  223  ff. 


WHAT   THE    G(-    VOWELS    BECAME    IN    WS.  19 

29.  1)  II  often  remains  u:  huncl  dog. 

2)  u  >  0  in  or- :  ordfil  Ger.  Urteil  judgment. 

3)  un]^  ^-  >  u  §  72 ;  ny  >  ^  §  43, 3. 
For '"'••[(Oeo  cf.  §40. 

b)  Long  Votrels.     §§  30-34. 

30.  I.  WG.  a  (<G^8e):  — 

l)  a  generally  >  §§  :  Sfen  Slbertb  evening. 

Note.  — Weak  (§  19,3)   ce>  e:  ^>lfred,  hired  §eirat. 

2)  a]""  remains  a :  tawian  prepare,  «)'  >  ce  §  43,  i : 

seltSwe  complete,  cf.  §  43,  IST^ 

3)  a]''^"^'^^''  >  C(  or  re  (of.  §  40  N^) :  lagon  kegon,  lac- 

nlan  l^cnlan  heal,  and  )'  >  ce  :  Igece  physician. 

4)  a]"'^-  >  6  §  38, 1  {?,),  o)'  >  e  §  43,  2. 

dainty,  cf.  §  91  &  2. 
For  P'^^ffe  cf.  §40. 
II.  G-^  and  WG.  nasalized  a  (<  an^')  >d  %12W,by>e 
§43,2. 

31.  e  remains  e  :  lier  here. 

32.  1)  i  generally  remains  i :  min  mine,  wif  ivife. 

2)  r-|'^  +  ^<'-->t   (§4611.)  and  then   (§41,3)   eo:   leolit, 

Ger.    leid^t    light,    so   *betwlhnum  >  betweolinum 
(§91,  &  2)  >  betweonum  between. 

3)  i  -\-  back  vl.  >  io,  eo  §  45,  i  (3). 

33.  1)5  generally  remains  6  :  god  good,  o)'  >  e  §  43, 2. 

2)  Final  stressed  6  >  u :  cu  cow,  til  two ;  but  weak  to. 

34.  u  remains  u :  tun  town,  fi)'  >  ^  §  43,  3. 

c)  Diphthongs. 

35.  1)  ai  >  a  :  stan  ©tein  stone,  a)'  >  ce  §  43,  i. 

2)  aiy  >  a  rarely  o  :  snaw  snoiv,  a  or  o  (<  aiw)  ever. 

36.  au  >  ea  (§  22  and  W'-) :  eac  and)  eel;  m)'  >  fe  §43,4. 

37.  eu  >  eo  (§  22  and  W'^) :  deep  dee^^,  eo)'  >  ie  §  43, 5. 


20  PHONOLOGY. 

2.    Chief  Effects  of  Neighhoring  Sounds  upon  Stem 
Vowels.     §§  38-40. 

a)  Influence  of  Nasals  (]""»•). 

38.  1)  Of"  a  acquired  before  nasals  a  sound  like  that  of  o  in 
on,  or  of  a  in  hall ;  as  there  was  no  letter  to  represent  the  new 
sound,  it  was  in  the  MSS.  sometimes  spelled  a,  and  sometimes 
o.     Sweet  first  suggested  the  use  of  o  for  this  "  open  o." 

(1)  a]""'-  >  0  :  mon,  lond,  comb,  long. 

on] spirant  >  q  §  72  :  gos  <  gous  ©ttuS  goose. 

(2)  Nasalized   G"^^  a]'^  >  OE.  6   §  72  N  :   johte   bacfjte 

tliought.    Cf.  §  46 II. 

(3)  G-^  ce,  WG.  a]""^-  also  >  6  §  30, 4:  gedon  getl^an  done. 

2)  el"''^-  >  i  :  niman  nebmen  take.    Cf.  §  24  N\ 

3)  o]""'-  >  u  :  Sunor  ^TiMincr  thunder.         "}? 

b)  JuTluence  of  w  (^'f  and  ]^). 

39.  1)  "f/o  (<  i  §  27,  2, 3)  usually  >  u :  wuduwe,  (less  often) 
weoduwe,  or  widuwe  widoiv. 

2)  "^[eo  (<  e  §  26, 3,4)  sometimes  >  o :  worold,  (more  usually) 
weorold  2iselt  icorld. 

3)  a^"  and  e^"  >  au  and  e«,  and  these  (§§  36,  37)  >  ea  and 
eo  :  feawe  feic,  ))eowas  servants. 

4)  i'Y  >  in  >  ^0,  but  wY  >  7e :  niewe  new. 

Cf .  also  §  28,  2. 

c)  Influence  of  Palatals  (p^'f  «»^  l^*^')- 

40.  1)  Influence  of  Initial  Palatal. 

(a)  Por  older  jce,  jo,  we  usually  find  gea,  geo  (Ger.  ^aF)r 
OE.  gear  year,  ^odfi  geoc  ?/o^'e)  and  jn  is  spelled  both  m  and 
geo  (iung,  geong  young). 

(b)  So  after  the  palatals  (r/,  c,  .sc)  we  find  not  ce,  re,  e,  but 
ea,  ea,  ie:  geaf  (for  gsef),  geafon  (for  g»fon)  gave,  giefan  (for 
gefan)  give,  ceaf  (for  esef)  chaff,  sceal  (for  scsel)  shall. 


EFFECTS   OF    NEIGHBOKIXG   SOUNDS.  21 

Note  1.  —  This  spelling  is  differently  interpreted  by  OE.  scholars.  In 
general  we  shall  follow  Sievers  and  Sweet,  who  are  substantially  agreed 
that  the  palatal  cons,  was  succeeded  by  a  glide  (§  16,  2)  which  with  the 
following  vl.  formed  a  diphthong,  this  diphthong  coming  in  time  to  have 
the  stress  on  the  first  element,  like  other  diph^  (§22).  But  the  gen.  pi. 
gmra  (M"E.  yore)  =  jdra  (  §  30,  3)  and  has  the  spelling  ge  instead  of  g  by 
analogy  to  gcrir  (M'>E.  year)  <  *jcBr  (§  30,  l)  ,  "  gmra  "  is  therefore  to  be 
written  gedra,  and  "ge'ar"  gear. 

Note  2.  —  Between  the  guttural  g  and  c,  and  the  back,  or  guttural, 
vowels  a,  <i,  o,  u,  as  well  as  their  z-mutations,  no  i  or  e  occurs :  god 
good,  C^nt  Kent. 

Note  3.  —  The  e  or  /  sometimes  found  between  sc  and  back  vl' 
(sc(e)acan  shake,  sc(e)6h  shoe)  is  a  glide  (in  eWS.  still  unstressed), 
§§  10,  56,  and  shows  that  the  c  had  become  palatalized  by  the  s,  the 
first  step  toward  the  modern  sh,  §§11  d,  85,  3.  This  unstressed  e,  i,  may 
be  printed  e,  (. 

2)  Influence  of  Following  Palatal  (Sievers'  ''Palatalum- 
.laut  "),  cf.  §  54. 

In  eWS.  this  is  manifested  only  in  eo]'""'-  >  ie  :  reoht  >  rieht 
right.     Cf.  §  41,  3  (e  and  i). 

d)   The  Breakings  ("[). 

41.  Before  certain  guttural  sounds,  the  front  vP  e,  ce,  and  i 
acquire  a  more  guttural  quality,  and  are  said  to  be  broken 
into  two  elements  (cf.  the  pronunciation  icce'al  for  ]\PE.  icell). 

1)  Before  r  +  consonant. 

e  >  eo  :  steorra  Stern  star ; 

8B  ( <  G'^  a)  >  ea  (really  cea  §  22  N-) ;  earm  arm ; 

i  >  io,  and  10)'  >  ie :  hierde  irtirte  herdsman. 

2)  Before  1  +  consonant. 

88  (<G''  a)  generally  >  ea  :  feallan  fall. 
e  >  eo  only  before  I  +  guttural  c  or  7i :  meolcan  melfcn 
milk,  eolh  elJa. 

3)  Before  h  +  cons,  and  before  final  h. 
SB  (<  G""  a)  >  ea  :  eahta  ad}t  eight. 


22  PHONOLOGY. 

e  >  eo :  seox  fedi§  six,  but  in  most  of  the  words  the  h 

later  >  palatal  and  changed  eo  to  ie :  siex  six  §  40,  2. 
i  >  eo  and  this  (§  40, 2))  >  ie  :  Peohtas,  Piehtas  the  Picts. 

e)   The  Mutations. 

42.  Mutation  (Ger.  Umlaut)  is  the  change  produced  in  a 
stressed  vl.  by  a  following  vl.  or  semi-vowel  (§20,  i).  If  the 
mutating  vl.  is  the  high  front  vl.,  the  vl.  before  it  is  assimi- 
lated to  it  (that  is,  if  back,  it  >  front ;  if  already  front,  it  > 
higher  §  17, 2) ;  if  the  mutating  vl.  is  a  back  vl.,  only  the  latter 
part  of  the  preceding  vl.  becomes  assimilated,  or  guttural,  and 
thus  a  diphthong  is  produced. 

Note.  —  Mutation  may  affect  an  intervening  unstressed  or  weakly- 
stressed  vl.  before  reaching  the  stressed  vl. :  a-buri  any  time  >  *abyri 
>  *tebyri  >  *Sberi  >  tebre  >  «fre,  ever. 

(I.)    \-mutation   ()')• 

43.  Note  1.  —  The  i  or  j  that  caused  )'  appears  as  i  only  after  }• ;  else- 
where it  sometimes  became  e  (§48),  but  it  generally  disappeared  entirely 
(§  6G  N).     The  bj  of  the  II.  class  of  weak  verbs  >  I  too  late  to  cause  )'. 

Note  2. — The  earliest  instance  of  )',  namely  e  >  i,  occurred  early  in 
Qc  times,  and  is  not  generally  classed  with  the  later  mutations,  cf .  §  24 
N^  (2).    The  )i  of  m,  which  is  ce,  may  be  ignored. 

1)  §25  a  >  I  "^'  *^'  I  >e.^  |  h^rian  praise,  l^cgan  (<  lagjau) 
^?jQ)'  ^  ^      Zoy,  ni^n  wen. 

a)'  >  ffi  :  hajlan  (<  ludjan  <  hal  wJiole)  heal. 
2)-o)'  >  e^ :  dohtor,  but  dat.  sg.  d^hter,^  daughter. 

6)'  >  e  :  deman  (<  domjan  <  dbm  judgment')  judge. 
3)  u)'  >  y  :  hyngran  to  hunger  <  hungor''  hunger. 

u)'  >  y  :  betynan  (<  betunjan  <  tun  enclosure)  enclose. 

1  This  e  is  well  printed  f  in  grammars  and  dictionaries,  to  distinguish 
it  from  old  c  §  "21.    A  few  words  have  ai  for  f :  ftestan  fasten,  ssec  strife. 

'  o)'  and  o)'  first  >  03  and  a  (that  is,  >  front  vl^  §  17,  but  retained  the 
rounding  of  the  o,  §  18),  but  like  other  front  vl^  they  early  lost  the  round- 
ing and  >  e,  e.     Cf.  M.  and  S.  Ger.  Getter  for  G'otter.    Cf.  §  14. 

8  n  usually  >  o  (§23  N-),  but  generally  not  when  i  or  j  followed ;  and 
so  when  mutation  took  place,  it  was  ?t  that  was  mutated  and  consequently 


EFFECTS    OF    XEIGHBOKING    SOUNDS.  23 

4)  ea)'  >  ie  :  eald  old  but  ieldra  oldej-. 
ea)'  >  ie  :  heah  high  but  hiehra  hiyho: 

5)  eo)'  and  io)'>  ie :  weorpan  throw  but  3  sg.  wierpS  (■5<i-S). 
eo)'  and  lo)'  >  ie  :  leolit  light  but  llelitan  to  light. 

Note.  —  For  ie  >  i,  y  cf.  §  22  N*. 

(II.)     U-  and  O-mutation  (  )",  )»). 

44.  Cf.  §  42.  "\VS.  was  less  affected  by  this  mutation  than 
other  dialects  ;  and  many  forms  that  once  showed  it  have 
become  levelled  under  neighboring  ones  that  did  not  have  it. 
The  high  vl.  ?<  (§  17,2)  was  more  effective  than  the  mid  vl.  o, 
which  did  not  affect  the  mid  vl.  a  at  all.  )"  and  )"  seldom 
operated  across  a  palatal  cons.  (§  85, 2)  or  two  or  more  cons'. 

Note.  —  The  u  or  o  that  caused  mutation  is  not  often  preserved  as 
such :  u  appears  as  u  or  o  ;  o  always  as  a  ;  o  in  almost  any  form. 

1)  a)">ea:  ealu  a?e.  (Rare) 
e)"  >  eo  :  heofon  heaven.  (Frequent) 
i)"  >  io,  eo,  ie:  lim  Umh  pi.  leomu,  siendun  are.   (     ••'      ) 

2)  a)".  (Does  not  occur,  cf.  §44) 
e)°>eo:  6eole  throat.  .  (Rare) 
i)**  >  io,  eo  :  teolian  to  aim.                              (Occasional) 

f)  Iliatm,  Contraction,  &c. 

45.  Two  vP  sometimes  (particularly  through  the  dropping 
out  of  an  h,  less  often  vj  or  J)  come  to  stand  next  each  other, 
—  that  is,  an  hiatus  is  formed. 

I.  If  the  first  of  the  two  vP  is  unstressed,  it  becomes  silent : 
be-utau  >  butan  >  M"E.  hut. 

II.  If  the  first  vl.  is  stressed  — 

1)  The  two  form  a  diphthong,  the  second  element  being  an 
obscure  vl.  spelled  a,  o,  or  e.     (For  unstressed  o  see  §23N^.) 

>  y.  (For  o]i  >  u  and  ?()'  >  y  cf.  §  28  N.)  But  as  ?(  >  o  in  most  of  the 
forms  of  such  a  word  as  dohtor,  it  did  so  by  analogy  in  the  dat.  too, 
though  it  was  there  followed  by  i. 


24  PHONOLOGY. 

(1)  a  +  o  or  rt  >  ea:  *sla(h)oii  >  slean  |'(^>Iagcn  slay. 
a  ( <  G*^  Be)  +  0  or  w  >  ea :  *na(h)or  >  near  nearer. 

(2)  e  +  back  vl.  >  eo  :  *seh(w)on  >  seon  fe^en  see. 
e  +  e  >  e  :  *te(h)en  >  ten  je^u  ten. 

(3)  1  +  back  vl.  >  lo,  eo  :  *ti(h)on  >  teon  censure. 
i  -|-  e  >  ie  :  *si(j)e  >  sle  be. 

2)  The  second  element  is  usually  assimilated  to  the  first 
and  so  disappears.     (For  unstressed  o  see  §  24  N^) 
(1)5  +  vl.  >  0  :  *ho(h)on  >  hon  hang. 

(2)  u  -f-  vl.  are  not  changed  or  >  ii  :  buan  or  bun  build. 

(3)  y  +  vl.  >  y  :  *fyir  (<  *fuir)  >  fyr  fire. 

(4)  a  (<  G*^  ai)  +  vl.  >  a  :  *tai(h)a  >  ta  toe. 

(5)  ea  +  vl.  >  ea  :  *hea(h)es  >  heas,  gen.  sg.  of  heah  high. 

(6)  eo  +  vl.  >  eo  :  *teo(h)on  >  teon  drato. 

3.     Changes  ix  Quantity. 

46.    The  quantities  usually  assigned  to  the  OE.  vP  are  what 

may  be  called  historic  quantities.     That  is,  such  changes  in 

quantity  as  have  taken  place  in  OE.  as  distinguished  from 

WG.,  are  usually  ignored.     The  reason  for  this  is  that  it  is 

very  difficult  to  determine  just  when  and  where  the  changes 

took  place. 

(I.)    Lemjthcninij. 

1)  It  is  certain  that  final  stressed  vowels  >  long :  |iu  thou, 
hwa  idio,  se  he  or  that;  but  unstressed  se  the,  he,  the  rel.  \q,  &c., 
similarly  eal-swa  just  so,  M"  also,  but  weak  (§93,2)  ealswa  as. 

2)  There  was  a  tendency  to  lengthen  vP  before  a  sonant 

cons.  +  a  voiced  stop  (§  20,  i :  bindan,  word,  gold,  comb),  but 

this  seems  not  to  have  been  true  of  all  v?,  nor  universally  the 

ease  before  nd  and  ng.    These  lengthenings  will  not  be  noticed 

in  this  book. 

(II.)    /Shortening. 

A  vl.  before  h  +  cons.  >  short :  polite  >  )»ohte,  *wih-beod  > 
*wihbeod  >  *weohbod  (§  32,  2 ;  for  eo  >  eo  >  o  in  beod,  cf.  §  48 
end)  >  weofod  (§  91  &  2,  §  76  N')  altar. 


VOWEL   GRADATION.  —  WEAK    SYLLABLES.  25 

4.     Vowel  Gradation. 

47.  1)  Gradation  (Ger.  3(Dlaut)  is  a  difference  of  vowel  due 
to  a  difference  of  accent  (cf.  §  19,  3)  in  Indo-European  times 
in  various  forms  of  a  word  or  in  related  words. 

With  Greek  fti8ov.  poiSa,  fiSelv  or  Lat.  videre,  visus,  compare 
O.E.  *witan  (Kei,  §1'3X'  end),  wat  (fK ai,  §  3r),<oi,  §  23  X"'), 
witon,  WIS. 

The  difference  of  accent  can  no  longer  be  seen,  for  in  G*" 
times  the  stress  came  to  be  uniformly  placed  upon  the  first 
sib.  of  simple  words  (§94),  and  some  of  the  older  accented 
sib'  fell  away,  §  50. 

2)  Gradation  plays  in  G*"  its  chief  role  in  the  verb,  which 
shows  six  s'radation  series  :  — 


1 

I  «ei§ 

24  N=) 

ai 

1^ 

i 

i 

o 

eu 

an 

u 

u(o) 

o 

e  (i) 

a 

11 

u(o) 

4 

e(i) 

a 

ie 

u(o) 

5 

e  (i) 

a 

ai 

e 

6 

a 

o 

0 

a 

1-5  have  the  gradation  e/o  (G<=  e/a,  §2.3  N^,  or  i/a,  §28  Ni),  with  the 
changes  due  to  the  following  cons.  (1  and  2,  the  semi-vowels  j  and  tc,  or 
i,  n;  3,  sonorous  cons.  +  cons. ;  4,  simple  sonorous  cons. ;  5,  nonsouorous 
cons.)  ;  6  has  the  gradation  a /a  (G"^  n/o). 

Gradation  continues  in  OE.,  but,  in  consequence  of  the  many 
changes  in  the  various  v?  (§§  25  ff.),  the  subject  appears  more 
complicated,  §§00ff. 

B.     The  Voivels  of  Medial  and  Final  Syllables. 

a)   Quantity  and  Quality. 

48.  The  vowels  in  unstressed  sib'  are  all  short,  but  e  and  i 
long  kept  their  length  under  a  slight  accent  in  the  endings 
-ere  (leornere  learner,  §  97  h)  and  -tan  of  the  II.  weak  conjuga- 
tion.    Old  ce  and  i  generally  >  e  :  arce  >  are  g.  d.  a.  sg.  cS:  n. 


26  PHONOLOGY. 

a.  pi.  of  iir  honor-,  rici  (§49N')>  rice  realm,  hilpis  >hilpes(t) 
helpest;  but  a  slight  stress  generally  preserved  i  in  the  deriva- 
tive endings  -ig,  -ing,  -isc,  cf.  also  §  43  N'.  For  i  +  vl.  :  j  +  vl. 
cf.  §  ()G  N.  An  u  is  often  lowered  to  o,  o  unrounded  to  a,  and 
this  fronted  to  e.  The  vowel  in  a  syllable  that  once  had  at 
least  secondary  stress  but  has  lost  it,  is  apt  to  become  short 
and  to  be  reduced  to  an  obscure  vowel  usually  written  e  or  o ; 
so  mis'Uc'  >  mis'lic,  and  mis'licor  >  mis'lecor;  hldfw{e)ar(V  > 
Ida' ford,  §  25, 3.     Cf .  also  §  19, 3,  and  95,  2. 

b)   Gradation  (cf.  §47). 

49.  I.  Ancient  Gradation.  The  IE.  gradation  series  e/o 
appears  in  G*"  as  i/o  or  o,  and  (though  all  these  vP  may  have 
>  e)  the  gradation  can  still  be  recognized  in  OE.  in  such  forms 
as  legen/iigen  oivn,  the  first  only  showing  y,  §43. 

II.  Recent  Gkauation.  Unstressed  o  and  ii  >  e  if  the 
next  sib.  contains  a  back  vl.,  and  similarly  \ing  >  ing :  rodor 
rodores/roderas  heaven ;  sealfode/sealfedon  anointed ;  leorn- 
ung/leorninga  learniyig.    But  cf.  § 

c)  Apheresis,  Syncope,  Apocope  (cf.  also  §45,  i.,  ii.). 

50.  Note  1.  —  The  loss  of  a  somid  is  termed  apheresis,  syncope,  or 
apocope,  according  as  it  is  initial,  medial,  or  final. 

Note  2.  —  Before  disappearing,  a  vl.  generally  >  the  "mid-mixed,"  or 
"obscure,"  vl.,  usually  written  e;  hence  vl^  that  are  already  mid  disap- 
pear sooner  than  high  vl''.    Cf.  §  17.  , 

1)  Apheresis  is  rare  in  native  words  (raefnan  <  ar-sefnan 
perform),  but  it  frequently  happened  to  foreign  words  adopted 
into  G*^  speech :  episcopus  >  biscop  bishop,  epistula  >  pistol 
letter. 

2)  Syncope  occurs  according  to  the  following  important 
rule :  — 

After  a  long  sib.  (§  19,  2)  an  originally  short  medial  vl.  is 
dropped  unless  it  be  guarded  by  more  than  one  cons. :  deofol 


VOWEL   GRADATION  —  WEAK    SYLLABLES.  27 

deofles  <  *deofoles  ;  but  rudur  rodores,  as  rod-  is  a  short  sib. ; 
and  roccettan,  as  e  is  guarded  by  the  two  cons^  tt. 

NoTK  \.  —  Trisyllabic  f.  and  nt.  fdims  in  -u  do  iioi  syncopate:  idelii 
idle,  nietenu  cattle  (but  fein«  iu  -(()5({  syncopate  regularly:  sti'^ngSu 
strength)  ;  on  the  other  hand,  micel  large  I'egularly  and  yfel  evil  gener- 
ally syncoiiate  in  spite  of  the  shortness  of  the  stem  vl. :  niicles,  yfles. 

Note  2. — Analogy  sometimes  levels  the  forms  that  arise  from  this 
law;  thus  we  find  deofoles  (for  deofles)  by  analogy  to  deofnl.  and  adjec- 
tives with  short  stems,  like  hwa*t,  have  (not  -ere  -ene,  but)  -re  -ne,  just  as 
god  has  godre  godne. 

Note  3.  — The  e  of  the  2(1  and  od  pers.  sg.  ending  (-es(t)  -eS)  of  strong 
verbs  and  of  weak  verbs  of  the  I.  class  is  generally  dropped  in  WS. 

3)   Apocope. 

I.)  The  original  final  mid  vl'  a,  o,  and  e,  fall  away  (§50N-): 
Greek  i.vd,  G'  ana,  OE.  on;  *d6moz  (§24  N")  >  *d6mo  (§  68N) 

>  doni  judgment;  voc.  dome  >  dom. 

II.)  The  high  v?  i  and  u  regularly  fall  away  only  after  long 
slb'(§  19, 2):  *wurmi  >  wyrin,  but  wini  >  wine  ;  wordu  >  word, 
while  hofu  retains  u.  Still  u  is  dropped  after  a  short  medial 
sib.  that  follows  a  short  stem  vl.  :  *firinu  >  firen  crime. 

Note  1.  —  But  the  i  after  long  sib"  (ijGON)  which  became  final  by  the 
apocope  of  a  following  vl.  (§49,  i),  did  so  too  late  to  be  affected  by  this 
law.    It  >  e,  §  48 :  ricio-  >  rici  >  rice  realm. 

Note  2.  —  When,  in  consequence  of  apocope,  the  semi-vowel  to  or  a 
sonorous  cons.  (§  20,  i)  becomes  final,  it  becomes  syllabic  (§  16,  3) :  barw- 

>  bearu  forest ;  lecr  field,  fugl  bird,  tacn  sign,  maSm  treasure.  Before 
a  sonant  cons.,  espec.  before  r,  an  obscure  vl.  (generally  written  e  after 
palatal  vl%  o  after  guttural)  is  sometimes  inserted :  secer,  fugol,  tacen, 
maSum. 


CHAPTER    V. 

The  Pronunciation  of  the  WiS.  Consonants.     §§51-56. 

51.  p.  b.  m.  w  :  t,  d,  r,  1  have  their  ordinary  M"E.  vahies  : 
bewit'aii,  dyppan,  miere,  let.  ]>ut  in  making  r,  the  front  of 
the  tongue  was  turned  back,  and  thus  r  acted  like  a  guttural 
in  "breaking"  front  vP,  §41.  Similarly,  OE.  1,  like  M"E.  /, 
often  had  a  guttural  quality.  For  k  and  q  cf.  §  86,  for  v  §  78, 
for  X  §  84. 

52.  The  fricatives  f,  s,  J?  (or  ff)  -were  — 

1)  Voiceless  (or  as  in  M"E.  for,  so,  thick,  §  10),  Avhen  initial 
or  final,  but  medially  only  when  doubled  or  next  a  voiceless 
cons.  :  fortr  forth,  sceaf  sheaf,  }?aes  of  the ;  snoffa  snuffles, 
sc^tftfixn  injure,  cyssan  liss;  gej'ofta  companion,  wascan  ivash; 

2)  Voiced  (or  as  in  ]\I"E.  of,  rose,  the,  §  16),  when  betiveen 
vowels  or  voiced  con^ :  of er  over,  sealfian  to  salve.  furSfor  further, 
hieffen  heathen,  Sri'sau  arise. 

53.  n  generally  represents  M"E.  dental  n,  as  in  non  noon  ; 
but  before  dental,  palatal,  and  guttural  cons%  it  too  is  dental 
(bindan  bind  and  probably  in  s^ngan  (=send3an)  singe,  §55, 
I.  N,  end),  palatal  (Englisc  English),  or  guttural  (Qngelcyn  the 
Angles)  ;  for  the  two  last,  a  letter  like  t]  is  sometimes  vised  in 
grammars. 

54.  1 )  h  originall}"  stood  for  the  voiceless  back  open  cons. 
heard  in  Ger.  ad),  and  it  still  often  had  that  value  (heah  high, 
liliehhan  laugh)  ;  before  t.  and  to  some  extent  before  h  and  s, 
it  palatalized,  or  became  front  (so  reoht  >  reoht  >  rieht,  §  40,2)), 
or  as  in  Ger.  id}- 

Note.  —  The  back  and  the  front  d)-soumls  may  be  Iraiiu'd  by  wlii.sper- 
mg  respectively  /,-nn  and  Avz/and  dwelliug  nu  tlic  sound  that  fnllnws  the  /.■, 
28 


PRONUNCIATION   OF   THE   WS.    CONSONANTS.  29 

2)  Initially  h  early  became  the  weak  glottal  cons,  heard  in 
M"E.,  as  in  hand  hound.  Initial  hi,  hn,  hr,  hw  were  either 
pronounced  as  h  +  I,  h  +  n,  &c.  or  as  voiceless  (§10)  I,  n,  &c. 
(hkedder  ladder,  hnutu  nut,  hrof  roof,  hwit'r  lohere)  ;  later  this 
li  generally  became  silent,  but  for  hw,  which  is  now  written 
wh,  one  may  hear  h  +  v:,  voiceless  iv,  or  voiced  lo.  For  lis  cf. 
§  90,  4  X. 

55.  g  was  — 

1)  A  shut  cons.  (§  20)  I.  after  n,*  II.  when  doubled. 

I.  After  n  :  — 

g  was  sounded  as  in  M°E.  go  ;  J'ing  thing,  long,  cyning  Tiing. 
g  (§85)   was  articulated  farther  toward  the  front  of   the 
mouth,  like  M"E.  g  in  give  :  Englisc  English. 

Note.  —  If  a  vl.  followed,  a  glide  intervened  (as  in  the  dialectic  pro- 
nunciation gf;//?^  for  girl),  which  may  have  been  a  remnant  of  the  origi- 
nal i,  j  (§  8-5, 2)  ;  it  was  sometimes  written  e,  but  was  often  not  indicated 
at  all :  s^ng(e)an  singe.  It  is  very  probable  that  this  gj  had  even  in  OE. 
times  passed  through  dj  to  clj,  spelled  (d)ge  in  M"E.,  cf.  gg  below. 

II.  When  doubled  :  — 

gg  was  sounded  like  g  in  go,  but  was  held,  or  prolonged  : 
dogga  dog,  h-oggafrog. 

gg  was  written  eg  and  was  pronounced  like  ge  in  s^ng(e)an 
(I.  X  above),  that  is,  early  gj,  later  dj  (cf.  micgern  suet<  midd- 
gearn)  or  dj :  hrycg  bacJc,  ridge,  brycg  bridge. 

2)  An  open  cons.  (§  20)  elsewhere. 

g  was  like  Xorth  Ger.  g  in  ^cio^c  (or  like  ]\PE.  cons,  y  made 
far  back  in  the  mouth) :  god  good,  dagas  days,  genog  enough. 

g  (§85)  was  like  M"E.  cons,  y  (cf.  also  §88X):  dseg  day, 
gear  year,  nigontig  ninety,  geliefan  believe. 

56.  c  was  sounded  like  c  in  cool :  cunian  come,  eyning  king, 
C^nt  Kent,  cwic  quick,  bucca  buck.     For  cs  cf.  §  84  end. 

6  (§85)  was  articulated  farther  toward  the  front  of  the 
mouth,  like  k  in  /.•///.  but  was  followed  by  a  glide  (as  in  the 

*  Perhaps  g  was  a  fricative  after  n  in  eWS.  and  only  >  a  stop  in  IWS. 


80  I'HONOLOGY. 

dialectic  pronunciation  of  sky,  §  16,  2  end),  which  may  have 
been  a  remnant  of  the  original  /,  j  (§  8o,  2)  ;  before  a  back  vl. 
this  glide  was  sometimes  written  e  or  /,  but  often  was  not  indi- 
cated at  all :  cild  child,  rice  rich,  ta'c(e)an  teach,  r^cc(e)an 
relate.  It  is  very  probable  that  this  cj  had  even  in  OE.  times 
passed  through  tj  (ort-geard  is  early  written  orceard  orchard) 
to  tf,  spelled  {t)ch  in  M"E.    For  sc  cf.  §  85,  3. 


CHAPTER   VL 

General  Matters  as  to 
G*^,  WG.,  AND  OE.  Consonants.     §§57-61. 

a)  Vkunkk's  IjAW. 

57.  We  sometimes  find  in  an  OE.  word  an  r,  d,  g,  or  w 
where  a  related  word  or  another  form  of  the  'same  word  would 
lead  us  to  expect  s,  C,  or  h :  — 

_  .  _  (  rlsan  rise  i  rieran  rear, 

(  ceosan  choose  i  coren  chosen  ; 
..       1     ( llS'an  travel  '.  h^dan  lead, 

iseotfim  seethe',  soden  sodden; 
( tlen  <  *tih.en  ten  i  twentig  twenty, 
I  sleaii  <  *slahon  slay  i  shegen  slain  ; 
h(w)  —  w:     seon  <  *st'h(w)on  see  i  sawon  saiv. 


h  —  a: : 


Note.  — This  is  what  was  still  manifest  in  OE.  of  a  G=  law  according 
to  which  after  a  sib.  not  having  the  i)rimary  accent  a  voiceless  fricative  > 
voiced  (for  ex.  s>^).  The  full  applicability  of  the  law  cannot  be  made 
plain  to  beginners:  from  the  first  there  were  exceptions,  and  later  the 
primitive  accent  (§94  ft.  nt.)  largely  changed,  and  some  of  the  fricatives 
underwent  modification  (for  ex.,  .-  >  r,  and  cT  >  d,  while  all  voiceless  frica- 
tives >  voiced  between  vl^,  §  52) . 


GS    W(;.,    AND    i)E.    CONSONA^'TS.  31 

b)  Qf  ft,  ht,  ss. 

58.  Before  t  we  find  onl}^  the  voiceless  fricatives  f,  h, 
(J?),  though  a  rehited  word  or  some  other  form  of  the  same 
word  luiyht  lead  us  to  expect  a  stop  or  a  voiced  fricative  ; 
and  J>t  >  ss. 

ft  :  giefan  (f  =  v)  give  geben  :  gift  gift  ©ift, 

lit  :  niagan  can  mlnjen:  meaht  might  d)iad)t. 

ss  :  Avitau  Jx-iio>r  :  wisse  knew  and  gewis(s)  certain. 

c)  Gemination. 

59.  1)  Any  cons.  (ex.  the  semi-vowels  j  and  ic,  §  10,2)  may 
occur  doubled,  but  gg  (spelled  eg)  became  differentiated  into 
gr/ later  dj,  §55,11). 

(a)  G'  Gemination  (mostly  due  to  the  assimilation  of  n  to 
a  preceding  cons.)  :  wuUf  icool,  steorra,  stai-,  mon(n)  monnes 
man,  swimman  sivim. 

(b)  WG.  Gemination  (due  to  j :  every  WG.  single  cons.  ex. 
r  was  doubled  by  a  following  /,  provided  the  cons,  was  imme- 
diately preceded  by  a  short  vl. ;  after  long  slbs.  ./  fell  away, 
§  6Q)  :  Goth,  saljan,  OS.  s^lljan,  OE.  s^Uan  give,  so  hliehhau 
laugh,  smiacafe  smithy,  l(^cg(e)an  lay;  but  Goth,  nasjan,  OE. 
n^rian  (=  n^rjan)  save.  For  voiced  ff  we  find  the  double  stop 
bb :  h^bban  heave.  After  long  stems  :  *domjan  >  deman  deem, 
§66N. 

(c)  OE.  Gemination  (due  to  following  r  or  I,  but  not  regu- 
lar) :  bit (t) or  bitter,  9ep(p)el  apple. ' 

2)  The  Simplification  of  Gemination.  Every  gemination 
(ex.  eg,  which  was  no  longer  a  real  geminate,  cf.  1  above)  was 
simplified  — 

(a)  When  final :  eal  ealles ;  mon  monnes. 

(b)  Next  another  cous. :  ealre  ealles;  cyste  cyssau,  s^nde  < 
s^nd-de  sent. 

But  etymological  spellings  (eall  &c.)  are  not  uncommon. 


32  PHONOLOGY. 

d)  Assimilation  and  ])issimilation. 

60.  I.  Assimilation.  There  is  a  tendency  to  make  adjacent 
sounds  similar  oi-  alike  —  to  make  them  in  the  same  way  or  in 
the  same  place  :  bichW  '  biddeth '  >  (§  50,  2  W)  hidcW  >  (§  59, 
2  b)  hidd,  but  as  d  was  voiceless  (§  52)  it  made  d  so,  that  is, 
changed  it  to  t,  hitd,  then  d  assimilated  to  t  and  we  get  hitt, 
which  may  >  hit  (§  59,  2a).  For  ds  >  ts,  ts  >  ss,  &c.  cf.  §  80. 
For  sr  >  ss  and  Ir  >  II  cf.  §  70. 

II.  Dissimilation,  a)  It  seems  difficult  to  sound  two  frica- 
tives in  succession.  In  OE,  one  of  the  two  is  generally  stopped 
(§  20),  that  is,  -g  >t,  h>  c,  &c. :  fifffa  'fifth'  >  flfta,  so  siexta, 
but  fC'ortfa  &c. ;  hiljyes  \>u  >  hilpestu  'helpest  thou' ;  sielis  >  siecs 
or  sie.x  'six.'  INIore  rarely  one  fricative  was  assimilated  or  lost : 
hWs  >  UUs  '  bliss,'  yihsl  >  ]nsl  'thill.'    Cf.  §  83,  90,  4  N. 

b)  Foreign  words  were  liable  to  dissimilation,  thus  ?•  —  ?•> 
r  —  I:  Lat.  turtur  >  OE.  turtur  and  turtle,  Lat.  purpuixi  >  OE. 
purpura  and  purple. 

e)  Metathesis.  * 

61.  Metathesis,  or  leaping,  of  sonorous  cons'  is  frequent, 
particularly :  — 

1)  If  thereby  cons'  made  with  the  same  organs  of  speech  are 
brought  together :  hros  (^^iof?)  >  OE.  hors  liorse  §  69. 

2)  If  thereby  the  sonorous  cons,  is  brought  near  a  more 
sonorous  sound  (§  16,  3)  than  the  one  it  has  stood  next :  ildl  > 
aid  §  67,  worsm  >  worms  pris,  tacn  >  tanc  toTcen  §  74. 

The  metathesis  of  other  cons'  is  rare,  cf.  §  84 


CHAPTEIi   VII. 

Details  as  to  OE.  Coxsoxaxts.     §§62-91. 
A.     The  Semi-voicels  (w,  j,  §16,2). 

w  (cf.  §§  14,  15  &  X3,  10,  2,  51 ;  also  39,  45). 

62.  Initial  w  is  often  dropped  after  ?i(e)  'not':  nses  nsron  < 
ue  wees  &c.  icas  not;  but  it  rounds  i  to  y,  §  17,  3:  nyllan  <  ne 
willan  ivill  not.  w-  often  falls  away  through  Aveakness  of  stress 
in  the  second  part  of  a  compound  :  hlaford  <  *hlafword,  §  48. 

63.  Medial  w  falls  away  before  the  high  vP  u  and  i  (§§  17,  2, 
16,  2  about  IV) :  ste  <  saiwi  sea  ;  clea  <  clawu  claio  §  45,  II,  i  (i). 
Cf.  also  tu  two  <  *twu  <  *two  (§  33,  2),  so  hu  lioiv.  But  lo  is 
at  tirues  restored  through  the  influence  of  forms  without  u  or 
i :  Sc'ew  like  gen.  pi.  siewa  <  seewja  §  66  &  X,  &c. 

64.  Final  w  —   1)  >  vocalic,  that  is  u  (§  16, 2)  :  — 

(1)  After  a  cons. :  barw(o)- >  beam /o/-es?. 

(2)  After  a  short  vl.,  with  which  it  forms  a  diphthong  : 
*cnewo-  >  (§  49)  *cuew  >  *cneu  >  cneo  (§  45,  II,  i  (2))  knee. 

2)  Falls  away  entirely  after  long  vP  and  diphthongs  :  ii  or 
6  <  aiw  ever  (§  35,  2),  sna  snow. 

But  10  may  be  restored  by  analogy  to  medial  forms :  thus 
sndw  like  gen.  sndwes. 

j  (cf.  §§  14  end,  16, 2,  55, 1, 1.  N,  n.  and  2,  oG  ;  also  40, 43, 45,  59, 1  &  6.)- 

65.  There  was  no  special  character  to  represent  the  semi- 
vowel i  {=  y  in  you) ;  it  was  written  — 

I.)  i  sometimes  (1)  in  foreign  words  :  ludeas  jews;  (2)  ini- 
tially before  the  high  vl.  ti :  iung  yoxing ;  and  (3)  often  after  r : 
n^rian  save,  §  59, 1  b,  h^ries  gen.  of  h^re  army. 


34  PHONOLOdY. 

II.)   g  usually  (=J  85) :  geoiig  =  iung,  u^rgan  =  n^rian. 

XoTE.  —  For  i  or  </  we  sometimes  find  ig  and  before  back  vl*  even  ige 
&c.  (this  may  represent  t  or  'ij  and  iu  some  cases  even  i,  rather  than  j)  : 
hvri-ios,  nvrig(e)an. 

66.  j  —  3)  fell  away  after  long  closed  sib'  saljan  >  (§  59,  i  b) 
s^Ujau  >  s^llau  give. 

NoTK.  —  As  regards  the  interchange  of  i  and  j,  —  in  0"=  i  +  vl.  stood 
after  long  vP,  and  j  +  vl.  after  short :  ricio-  OE.  rice  (§  50  3  N^)  realm  but 
racjan  (OE.  r^ec(e)an,  §59,  l  b)  relate.  In  OE.  times  tlie  i  too  >  j  and 
fared  as  that  did  (for  ex.  *ricies  >  *rlcjes  >  (§  QQ)  rices  gen.  of  rice ; 
*d6mian  >  *d6nijan  >  deman  deem)  ;  but,  of  course,  it  had  not  caused 
G'^  gemination,  §  50,  i  b. 

2)  was  retained  after  r  (n^rian  save)  and  after  a  long  open 
sib.,  §19,  (cTegan  call). 

B.     The  Sonoroas  Consonants  (r,  1;  m,  n ;  §20). 
1.     The  Liquids  (1,  r). 

1  (cf.  §§14,  IG,  3,  20,  51;  also  41,  59,  ic). 

67.  Metathesis  (§  01,  2)  of  1  occasionally  occurs  :  si  >  Is  in 
briclels  'bridle'  &c.  (§  98  ski)  ;  spall  later  spald  'spittle,'  so  adl 
and  aid  '  sickness.'     For  r  >  Z  cf.  §  60,  II  b. 

r  (cf.  §§  14,  15  Ni,  10,  3,  20,  51 ;  also  41,  57,  59,  1  c,  00 lib). 

68.  OE.  r  arises  from  — 

I.)   G'' r :  bringan  6rm(7 ;  \\ ex  man,  Ij^i.  vir. 

II.)  G*"  z:  mara  larger,  more,  Goth,  niaiza;  and  cf.  §  57  &  N. 

Note.  —  This  r  <  s  is  only  medial ;  for  there  was  no  G'^  initial  z,  and 
the  final  r  <i  z  became  silent:  Goth,  hwas  Uicr  OE.  hwfi  to/jo,  Goth, 
batis  OE.  b^t  hetler ;  Lat.  hortus,  Primitive  G"^  gardoz  (§  50,  s,  I.)  OE. 
geard  tjard. 

69.  Metathesis  (§  01)  of  r  is  common,  especially  if  thereby 
the  r  comes  to  stand  next  other  cons**  made  with  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  :  hors  liorse  9tofe  :  beornan  hum  brenuen. 


DETAILS    A8    TO    OE.    CONSONANTS.  Si) 

70.  r  is  sometimes  assimilated  (§<')(i,  i;  U>  1  and  s:  selra  or 
sella  better,  liSssa  less. 

71.  r  is  sometimes  lost  after  a  labial :  spreeau  and  specau 
speak  f^n'ed^eu. 

2.     The  Nasals  (m,  ii.  t]). 

72.  Before  the  voiceless  fricatives  f,  s,  p,  a  nasal  early  fell 
away  and  a  preceding  stressed  vl.  was  lengthened :  Goth,  fimf 
funf  OE.  f If  Jive,  G'=  gans  >  (§  38,  i)  OE.  *gons  >  gOs  goose,  so 
mu6  mouth  93iunb,  *jngunl'-  >  geoguS  youth  ^ugcui^. 

Note  1.  —  Before  the  voiceless  fricative  h,  tlie  nasal  had  fallen  out  in 
G"^  times:  ^^anlite  >  ))ohte  bad)te  thowjltt,  cf.  §§38,  i,  4(3,  II. 

]S^OTE  2.  —  After  the  working  of  the  law  stated  in  §  72,  some  nasals 
came  to  stand  before  fricatives  in  consequence  of  syncope  &c.  (clien(i)slau 
cleanse),  and  some  foreign  words  with  ns  &c.  were  brought  in  (pinslan 
io<'i</h  <  Lat.  pensare,  §  o8,  2)). 

m  (cf.  §§  14,  15  Ni,  20,  51,  72  ;  also  :J8). 

73.  For  the  metathesis  of  m  cf.  §  61,  2. 

n  (cf.  14,  15  Ni,  16,3,  20,  53;  also  38,  88). 

74.  1)  Metathesis  (§  (>!,  2)  of  n  occasionally  occurs  in  the 
case  of  final  en  and  gn:  tacn  >  tauc  token,  ])egn  >  peng  thane. 

2)  n  is  often  dropped  in  the  pi.  of  verbs  if  ice,  ge,  &c.  follow 
(cf.  §  82  N)  :  sohte  ge  but  ge  sohton  '  you  sought.'  Occasionally 
elsewhere:  cyning  >  eyn(i)g  'king';  omceg  >  aweg  'away'; 
nemnde  >  nemde  'called.' 

C.    Non-Sonorous  Consonants,  §  20. 
(p,  b,  f,  v;    t,  d,  ]),   s;     c,  c,  g,  g,  h,  h) 

1.     Labials,  §§  20,  2,  28,  2. 
(p,  b,  f,  v) 

p  (cf.  §§  14,  16,  20,  51,  58). 

75.  Most  0*=  ^vords  beginning  with  p  are  w^ords  borrow^ed 
from  other  languages,  §  11. 


36  PHONOLOGY. 

b  (cf.  §§14,  10,  20,  51,  58). 

76.  b  generally  represents  the  voiced  labial  stop  (M°E  b 
in  bib),  but  this  only  occurs  initially  (binclan  biyid),  after  m 
(limb),  and  doubled  (habban  have). 

Note.  1.  —  Otherwise  medially  and  finally  we  find  f  (often  =  r,  §  52,  2) 
where  we  might  expect  b :  webb  (for  web  cf .  §  59,  2  «)  wefan  weave,  wtef 
loove.  If  foreign  or  initial  h  >  medial,  it,  in  time,  >  the  voiced  fricative 
f :  Lat.  probare  >  OE.  proflan  prove,  test  ;  a-byre  any  time  >  Sfre  ever. 

Note  2.  —  In  the  oldest  texts  b  is  used  to  represent  the  voiced  labial 
fricative  afterwards  represented  by  f :  obaer  =  ofer  ove7'. 

f  (cf.  §§  14,  52,  76  N  1.2;  also  58,  72). 

77.  f  represents  the  denti-labial  fricative  (§  20),  both  voiced 
and  voiceless,  §  52.  Geminated  voiced  f  appears  as  bb,  §  76  N^ ; 
for  b  =  f  -  V  cf.  §  76  Nl 

Note.  —  Voiced  f  sometimes  >  m  by  assimilation  to  n  :  efne  >  emne 
eve7i  (ly) . 

u  or  V. 

78.  Lat.  V  (or  u)  appears  as  w  in  the  oldest  loan-words 
(§  11);  but  when  it  had  become  denti-labial  in  late  Latin  and 
the  Romance  languages,  it  was  spelled  f  (fers  verse)  in  OE., 
less  often  u  or  v  (Dauid  &c.),  but  this  spelling  became  more 
frequent  in  time  (uers  verse). 

2.     Dentals,  §20,2. 
(t,  d,  h,  s) 

t  (cf.  §§  14,  20,  51,  58). 

79.  t  is  sometimes  lost,  esp.  (as  generally  in  M"E.)  be- 
tween a  voiceless  fricative  and  a  sonorous  cons,  (rieh(t)lice 
right,  so6f8es(t)nesse  truth)  or  another  fricative  (Wes(t)seaxan). 

Note.  —  (1)  As  s}»  >  st  (§  83)  and  tlie  old  spelling  was  often  retained, 
we  even  find  s>  written  for  original  st :  hesS  =  Ijest  least.  (2)  As  c  had 
>  tj  or  tj  (§  50  end)  we  also  find  the  spelling  c  for  original  tj  :  orceard  = 
ort-geard  orchard. 


DETAILS   AS   To   OE.   CONSONANTS.  37 

d  (cf.  §§  14,  20,  51 ;  also  57,  58,  88). 

80.  Xext  voiceless  cons^  d  >  (§  60)  voiceless,  or  t,  though 
the  old  spelling  is  often  -retained  :  bindst  =  bintst  <  biudest 
hindest,  scencte  <  scenc-de  gave,  bledsian  >  bletslan  >  blessian 
bless.     Weak  sind  (§§19,  3,  93  e)  '  are  '  often  >  sint. 

Note.  —  (1)  For  ehte  <  eht-te  '  persecuted,'  and  cyste  <  cyss-te  '  kissed,' 
cf.  §59,2.  (2)  d  often  fell  away  between  two  I's :  siel(d)lic  'strange.' 
(3)  In  weak  slb^  d  fell  away  after  n  and  before  another  cons. :  on{d)fon' 
'  receive.'  (4)  Before  1  an  n  is  often  exploded  as  a  d  :  eiulhifon  Goth. 
ain-lif  '  eleven. ' 

>  or  'S  (cf.  §§  14,  15  &  N«,  52  ;  also  57,  58,  72). 

81.  The  p  in  old  \p  and,  after  a  long  vl.,  ]>\,  having  >  voiced, 
Avas  stopped  and  exploded,  that  is,  >  d :  Goth.  gul|i  OE.  gold  ; 
(roth.  nejda  OE.  nyedl  needle. 

82.  dj?  >  t]?  >  tt,  §  60:  eaSuiod  humble,  *ea6medl)U  >  ea6- 
nietto  humility;  ]rxt  ])e  >  ]'£ette  that  conj. ;  and  simplified, 
§  59,  2 :    bint  <  bintt  <  bint?i  <  bindefi  bindeth. 

I^oTE.  —  J>  is  often  lost  in  verbs  if  u-e,  ye  follows  (cf.  §  74,  2) :  binde  ge 
but  (je  hindafS  'you  bind'  ;  also  in  ldr(p)eo  'teacher,'  &c. 

83.  i\>  >  st,  that  is,  one  of  the  two  open  cons'  is  stopped 
(^60,11):  hiljjes  \yu  >  hilpestu  'helpest  thou,'  the  t  in  time 
being  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  ending  and  remaining  in  yfi 
hilpest ;  cf.  also  §  79  X^.    ]>s  >  ss  :  bllds  >  hlhs. 

s  (cf.  §§  14,  20,  52  ;   also  57,  58,  72,  83,  85,  .•?). 

84.  By  metathesis  (§  61  end)  sc  sometimes  >  cs  :  asclan 
Hcsian  ask.  Old  hs  in  time  >  cs  (§90,  4,  N),  and  both  this 
and  other  cs's  were  very  often  Avritten  x :  siex  six,  rixian  rule, 
fixlan  ask. 

3.     Palatals  axd  Gutturals,  §20,2. 
(c,  c,  g,  g,  h,  h) 

85.  The  original  -guttural  cons'  (c,  g,  h)  became  fronted 
(§20,2)  under  certain  conditions,  but  the  Mss.  do  not  gen- 
erally distinguish  the  gutturals  from  the  palatals.     It  is  more 


38  PHONOLOGY". 

ortless  customary  in  text  books,  esp.  in  the  case  of  c  and  g,  to 
I)lacc  a  dot,  or  some  other  mark,  over  the  j^ahitals. 

1)  c,  g  >  c,  g  before  the  originally  front  vP  (se  se,  ea  ea,  e  e, 
eo  eo,  i  I)  and  their  wnutations  (e  £§,  ie  le,  — ,  ie  le,  ^),  but 
remained  guttural  before  cons'  and  before  the  back  vP  (a  o  a, 
0  0,  u  u)  and  their  i-mutatioiis  (e  £e,  e  e,  y  y),  these  last  having 
become  front  vP  too  late  to  affect  the  preceding  cons.  For 
examples,  see  Vocabulary. 

2)  Medial  c,  g  >  c,  g  before  original  i,  j  (cf.  §  43  N') :  *hqnci- 
>  hqnc  'bench,'  *hdcjdn-  >  here  'beech,'  *drngi-  >  dri/ye,  'dr}',' 
d.  sg.  byrg  <  *burgi  but  d.  pi.  burgum,  Lat.  uucia  >  ynce 
'inch,'  rice  'powerful,  rich'  and  ace.  sg.  rlcne<*richia,  simi- 
larly ecnes  '  eternity '  as  well  as  ece  '  eternal.' 

Note  1.  —  c  was  palatal  also  in  Tc  when  final  or  before  c:  ic  'I,'  dl<; 
'  ditch,'  -lice  '  -like '  (but  -licor),  and  in  the  contracted  derivatives  in  -lie  : 
(kit  'each,'  hioelc  'which,'  sveli  'such.' 

Note  2.  —  g  was  palatal  also  finally  after  the  front  vl«  of  monoslb' 
(dcei/  'day,'  but  dagas  'days,'  &c.)  and  in  the  suffix  -ig  {hnlig  'holy') ; 
and  medially  after  front  vl',  provided  no  back  vl.  followed  {dmyes  '  day's,' 
l^yde  'laid,'  \^eg(e)n  'thane,'  hut  hdl(i}gn). 

3)  sc  >  sc  not  only  according  to  1)  and  2)  above,  but  also 
initially  (§11  d),  and  finally  if  no  back  vl.  preceded  (fiscjish)  ; 
in  the  latter  cases  it  was  the  s  that  fronted  the  c.  Where 
there  Avas  no  front  vl.  next  a  medial  or  final  sc,  palatalization 
was  delayed  or  prevented. 

In  the  process  of  time,  sc  >  scj  >  scd^  >  srf;  >/,  or  the  M"E. 
'  sh ' ;  in  OE.  times  it  may  have  been  at  any  one  of  the  first 
stages.    §  40  X''. 

c  (k,  q ;  x)  cf.  §§  14  end,  20,  56 ;  also  58,  85. 

86.  c  is  the  letter  most  commonly  used  for  both  the  palatal 
and  the  guttural  voiceless  stop,  §  5G ;  rarely  the  guttural  was 
indicated  by  k:  kyn(in)g  king.  In  this  book,  the  guttural  is 
spelled  c,  and  the  palatal  c.  For  the  -  sound  kw,  the  usual 
spelling  was  cw ;  in  the  oldest  texts  also  cu,  less  often  qu,  as 
in  Lat. :  cwse^,  cuaeS,  quaeS  says.  For  x  =  cs  cf.  §  84.  For  eg 
cf.  §  5o,  1,  II. 


DETAILS   AS    TO   OE.   CONSONANTS.  39 

g  (cf.  §§  14  end,  20,  55 ;  also  57,  58,  59,  85). 

87.  After  long  back  v?,  1W8.  h  <  g  ococasionally  appears 
even  in  eW8.,  that  is,  final  g  tended  to  >  voiceless  :  genoh  = 
genog  enough ;  and  rarely  after  r,  1 :  burh  =  burg  fortress. 

88.  After  front  v\%  g  often  disappears  before  d,  n,  but  the 
preceding  vl.  >  long :  niaegden  >  niSden  maiden,  bregdan  > 
bredan  jndl,  brigdel  >  bridel  bridle,  regn  >  ren  rain,  on-,  to- 
gaegn  >  -g^n  >  -gean  (§  40,  i  h)  against. 

Note.  —  This  loss  of  g  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  fact  that  even  in 
eWS.  medial  and  final  g  tended  to  become  vocalic,  or  i. 

h  (cf.  §§  14,  15,  54  ;  also  41,  45,  4G  II,  57,  58,  87). 
X  (§84  end). 

89.  Initial  h  and  often  medial  h  acquired  the  weak  sound 
that  h  has  in  ]\I"E.  (§  54,  2),  and  in  certain  cases  it  was  assimi- 
lated to  neighboring  voiced  sounds  or  disappeared  entirely. 

90.  h  was  retained  when  — 

1)  Initial  (§89)  :  habbau  have,  hrycg  ridge. 

Note.  —  Initial  h  is  dropped  when  it  comeo  to  stand  after  another 
cons.:  n(e)habban  >  nabban  have  not. 

2)  Final:  furh /;o-/-o?r,  woh  bad. 

3)  Doubled:  hlieiiiidn  laugh. 

4)  Before  a  voiceless  cons. :  wiht  icight,  ]5ohte  thought,  §4011. 

Note.  — For  hs  we  often  find  x,  and  the  fricative  h  in  time  >  the  back 
stop  c,  §  60 II. :  siehs,  siex  six,  weaxan  groir.  Rarely  h  fell  away  before 
s :  Ksl  <  *Mhsl  2)eid)fel  thill,  wajstm  gron-th  -.  weaxan. 

91.  h  disappeared,  with  frequent  lengthening  of  the  pre- 
ceding vl.  (or  assimilated  to  a  neighboring  sonorous  sound), 
when  — 

1)   Unstressed: 

(I)  furum  <  furhum  d.  pi.  of  furh  farrow,  befeolan  <  be- 
feolhan  conceal,  buan  <  *buhon  dwell,  seon  <  *sehon  see,  ea 
<  *ahwu  water,  §  45. 


40  PHONOLOGY. 

Note.  —  In  WS.  the  loss  of  an  h  is  often  prevented  by  the  early  syn- 
cope of  the  following  vl.  (§  50,  2  N^,  §90,4),  so  esp.  hi  the  3d  sg.  of  the 
verb :  *sihW  >  Anglian  sW  but  WS.  sihS  or  sieh(5  '  sees,'  §  41,  3. 

(II)  Originally  having  secondary  stress:  ])usu7id <  ]ms-hund 
'  thousand  ' ;  names  like  ^^Ifere  <  JElf-here  ;  -or(r)ettan  or 
-orettan  <  -orel  'fight'  <  *or-hat  &c. ;  efen{n)ehd  'level  sur- 
face, field  '  <  efen-hmh  '  equally  high  ' ;  mjder  <  atglnvKder 
'either';  on-hat'jan  >  onhqt'lan  >  (by  analogy  to  other  verbs 
in  unstressed  -^Uan,  §94ijN)  on'h<^ttan  >  on'^Uan  'hasten/  but 
onhdt'jan  >  onha't'un  'excite.' 

Note.  —  The  h  is  often  maintained  or  restored  by  the  influence  of  the 
stressed  simple  word,  espec.  if  that  have  the  same  vl.,  §95c:  efe7iheah, 
'evenly  high,'  but  efeu{n)eht!  'plain,'  d'loer  and  a'htcWr  ' anywhere '< 
hicier  'where.' 

2)  Between  a  vl.  and  a  voiced  cons.,  esp.  if  sonorous, 
§  16,  3  :  smealic  <  *smeahUc  (§  41,  3)  <  *smahUc  (§  46,  il.)  < 
*smdhlic  'dainty,'  so  nemvist  'nearness,'  necdckcan  'come  near,' 
&c.  <  *ndhivist  &c.  (neah  'near'  has  ea  by  analogy  to  these 
and  to  near  'nearer,'  neau  'from  near,'  §  45,  i  (l)),  leoma  'light' 
<  Heohma,  cf .  leoJU  '  light,'  tveofod  '  altar '  <  lolh-heod  '  sacred 
table,'  ivd(Ji)ddm  'false  judgment' ;  hea(n)ne  ace.  masc.  of  heah 
'  high,'  nea(r)ra  comp.  of  neah  '  near.'  Occasional  heaJme  &c. 
are  due  to  the  influence  of  heaJi,  cf.  note  above. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Stress. 

A.     Sentence-Stress. 

92.  A  sentence  involves  the  eonneotion  of  two  ideas:  the 
one  first  in  the  mind  is  the  psychological  subject ;  and  the 
one  that  attaches  itself  to  this  is  the  psychological  predicate. 
These  may  or  may  not  correspond  with  the  grammatical  sub- 
ject and  the  grammatical  predicate.  If  a  theft  has  been  spoken 
of  and  some  one  says  "  John  stole  it,"  '  stole  it '  is  the  psycho- 
logical subject,  and  '  John '  the  psychological  predicate ;  if 
John  is  under  discussion  and  some  one  says  '•  John  is  a  good 
fellow,"  'John'  is  the  psychological  subject,  'a  good  fellow' 
the  psychological  predicate,  and  '  is '  a  connective. 

The  psychological  predicate  is  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  the 
speaker,  is  the  idea  he  is  anxious  to  put  into  ,the  mind  of  the 
listener,  is  the  '  emphatic '  word  or  words,  and  is,  naturally, 
stressed. 

93.  1)  As  a  result  of  this,  little  stress  falls  upon  words 
that  refer  to  an  idea  already  in  mind  (the  psychological  sub- 
ject), and  upon  words  that  denote  an  idea  that  is  necessarily 
or  naturally  associated  with  another  and,  consequently,  neither 
excites  the  mind  of  the  speaker  or  needs  to  be  called  to  the 
attention  of  the  listener,  but  is  expected  by  him.  Here  belong 
words  denoting  only  the  relation  ideas  bear  to  one  another. 

Unstressed  are,  therefore  :  — 

(a)  Personal  and  relative  pronouns  (cf.  e  Note  below). 

(b)  Weak  demonstratives  (including  the  article),  which 
simply  refer  to  objects  in  sight  or  under  consideration  (and 
do  not  contrast  some  with  others). 

41 


42  PHONOLOGY. 

"NoTK.  —  Interrogative  pronouns  and  adverbs,  being  but  temporary 
symbols  for  unknown  or  undetiued  psycliological  predicates,  are  not 
stressed. 

(c)  Indefinite  pronouns  (mon,  sum  &c.). 

(d)  Most  negatives  and  indefinite  quantitative  adj^  and  adv^ 

(e)  Conjunc^  and  prep',  copulative  and  auxiliary  verbs,  and 
verbs  of  saying  &c.  followed  by  feet  &c.  (cwaeSt,  baedt). 

Note. — Prepositions  are  stressed  before  personal  (but  not  demon.) 
pronouns  and  after  nouns  and  pronouns. 

2)  The  tendency  to  stress  the  psy.  pred.,^  when  adapted  to 
the  primative  word-order,  gave  to  G*^  speech  a  prevailingly 
trochaic  rhythm^  (using  'trochaic'  in  a  broad  sense):  of  two 
associated  nouns  (whether  substantive  or  adjective)  the  first 
received  the  stronger  stress  —  j'ses  eorles  sunu  'the  earl's  son,' 
se  goda  hierde  '  the  good  shepherd,'  dead  is  ^sch^re  '  ^schere 
is  dead,'  —  while  a  uoun^  was  more  heavily  stressed  than 
the  verb  with  which  it  was  used  —  Beowulf  maSelode,  beam 
Ecg)>eowes  'Beowulf  spake,  the  son  of  Eegpeow,'  —  and  this 
generally  even  if  the  verb  was  for  any  reason  placed  first  — 
ahleop  pa  se  gQmela  '  then  the  old  man  leaj^ed  up,'  but  gierede 
liine  Beowulf  'Beowulf  prepared  himself.'  Like  adj',  adv'  that 
retain  a  definite  meaning  have  the  heavier  stress  when  preced- 
ing an  adj.  or  verb  —  bi  standan  'to  stand  by.' 

1  It  woiild  not  do  to  carry  this  matter  into  details  here :  suffice  it  to 
say  that  modifiers  are  degenerated  psy.  predicates,  and  that,  vi^hen  G<= 
speech  was  more  .synthetic,  modifiers  more  regularly  preceded  the  word 
modified. 

-  Through  the  operation  of  the  same  natural  principle  under  changed 
conditions,  —  the  more  frequent  use  of  proclitic  words  (preps  the  articles, 
the  auxiliary  verbs,  &c.)  and  the  reduction  or  loss  of  final  unstressed  slb«, 
—  modern  English  has  acquired  a  prevailingly  iambic  rhythm. 

3  In  ordinary  speech  (where  speech-laws  originate)  nouns  generally 
represent  psy.  predicates,  for  they  are  usually  displaced  by  pronouns 
when  psy.  subjects  are  to  be  referred  to. 


STRESS.  43 

15.     Word-Stress. 

1.     Chief  Stress. 

94.    In  OE.  as  in  G-^ 

a)  The  stress  of  voice  regularly  fell  upon  the  first  ^  syllable 
of  a  Avorcl:  Simple,  fdsdev  father,  ]70ne  the,  clSne  cleanly,  gitslan 
gitsung  desire,  ceorfan  cut.  monig  many ;  Compound,  monslaga 
manslaughter,  domsetl  Judgment  seat,  arleas  dishonorable,  bliSe- 
lice  gladly,  toward,  toward.    Cf.  2. 

b)  But  COMPOUND  VERBS  stress  the  second  member :  — 

on-ginuau  begin,    but  on-gin  beginning, 

a-cnawan  Jcnou',       '•  or-ciuewe  known, 

to-dselan  divide,       '•  to-dal  division, 

wit)-saean  o^^pose,    "  wiSer-saca  foe. 

Note.  —  Verbs  with  the  derivative  endings  -hecan,  -^ttan,  stress  the 
first  sib. :  anhecan  unite,  cohh^ttan  cough. 

c)  Xouns  (substantive  or  adjective)  having  the  verbal  pre- 
fixes be-,  ge-,  for-  also  came  (in  OE.  as  in  WG.  generally)  to 
stress  the  second  member :  be-hat  pledge,  for-wyrd  destruction, 
ge-msene  common,  ge-sih9'  sight. 

Note.  —  The  original  prefix  stress  is  still  occasionally  found  (forwyrd, 
Crist  1615),  and  remained  fixed  in  a  few  words,  most  of  which  early 
underwent  contraction  :  bi-smer  disgrace,  *bi-hat  >  beet  boast. 

d)  Derivatives  retain  the  stress  of  the  primative ;  thus, 
verbs  derived  from  compound  nouns  keep  the  stress  on  the 
first  member:  andswarlan  to  answer  (<  andswaru  an  ansiver,  not 
<  and  +  swarian);  and  nouns  (for  ex.,  participles  used,  as  adj' 
or  subs")  keep  the  stress  on  the  second  member  :  a-liesend 
redeemer  and  a-liesednes  redemption  <  a-llesan  redeem. 

1  In  oldest  G<=  (§  57  N),  as  in  IE.  speech,  the  accent  was  -'free,"  that 
is,  it  was  not  bound  by  such  a  law ;  for  ex.,  the  word  for  'father,'  as  in 
Greek,  had  the  accent  on  the  last  sib.  while  that  for  '  mother '  had  it  on 
the  first,  and  the  pret.  pi,  was  not  accented  like  the  pret.  sg. 


44  PHONOLOGY. 

e)  Conglomerations  generally  retain  the  old  sentence-stress 
(§§  92,  Do)  :  tO-dseg  to-day,  betweonuin  betiveen,  for-j>»m-]je 
because. 

2.     Skcondakv  Stress. 

95.  a)  The  second  element  of  compound  words  (other  than 
verbs,  §  94,  b)  usually  had  secondary  stress.  For  examples,  see 
Vocabulary. 

b)  But  when  a  compound  in  time  assumed  a  simple  mean- 
ing, there  was  a  tendency  to  treat  it  as  a  simple  word  and  to 
neglect  the  secondary  stress ;  the  second  member  was  then 
exposed  to  all  the  changes  suffered  by  unstressed  sylb'  (§§  19,3, 
48-50,  91,  1,11):  hhlf-weard  >  hlaford  lord,  ful-team  >  fultum 
protection,  a-hwar  >  awer  anyichere. 

c)  Nevertheless,  if  the  meaning  of  the  second  element  of 
the  compound  was  not  entirely  lost,  the  mental  association  of 
the  simple  word  with  it  would  maintain  or  restore  the  second- 
ary stress  in  the  compound,  specially  if  both  elements  were 
long  sib' ;  hence  the  rule  a)  above. 

Note.  —  Of  three  more  or  less  stressed  slbs,  the  middle  one  was  apt 
to  lose  its  stress:  gehier'sum'nes' >  gehier'sumnes'  obedience.  Before  a 
third  sib.  f  !  is  apt  to  >  ^  ^  :  Norh'hym'bron,  hund'twijlf'tig  =  120.  It 
is  generally  not  necessary  to  indicate  secondaiy  stress,  unless  it  might  be 
misplaced.  ' 


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